When imagining the Dallas County Career Technical program, it may seem like all grease and manual labor, but a new addition to the program soon to arrive this month will give the program an entirely new facet — business and technology.

Apart from the welding and automotive programs, the career tech center will add the new Microsoft IT Academy Program to be housed in Dallas County High School.

The State Department of Education and Microsoft announced the official launch of Microsoft IT Academy Program Tuesday statewide.

“Dallas County is one of the school systems that is fortunate to have Microsoft IT Academy and programming at the Dallas County High School business department,” Jerolene Williams, director of the Career Technical Center said. “Microsoft IT Academy is a 21st century technology skill set that all employees are looking for. If they see a child has graduated with Microsoft credentials — they get a job.”

Williams said this program is a huge asset to the career tech center, which is prepping high school students to be career-ready without an expensive college education.

“{Microsoft IT Academy] will put us ahead of some systems that were not fortunate enough to get this pilot because our students will have the opportunity to advance in the business world and they are merging this curriculum into our existing business program,” Williams said and explained that career tech students upon graduation can immediately make money and develop their career with the skills learned at career tech.

With the Microsoft program being added to the mix students can receive credentials with their diploma for being skilled in Microsoft programs like Word, Excel, Power Point and more.

“This summer we had training for all of the teachers and administrators as to what would be taking place,” Williams said. “The books and the software for the program — those are all free and provided for.”