WANIC

WANIC Skill Center offers high quality tuition-free technical and professional training for high school Juniors and Seniors. These year-long, advanced-level Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs are based on rigorous academic and industry standards and prepare students for career and college readiness. WANIC programs offer dual credit opportunities (both high school and college credit) and/or lead to industry certifications. Programs are designed in three period blocks allowing extended time to not only learn the theory of a subject, but to also get authentic hands-on lab experience. All classes earn Occupation Education high school credits and may offer other course equivalencies towards high school graduation requirements.

WANIC operates as a cooperative consortium of eight local school districts. Member districts are: Bellevue, Everett, Issaquah, Lake Washington, Mercer Island, Northshore, Riverview, and Snoqualmie Valley. WANIC serves as a branch campus of all area high schools providing programs that would normally not be offered in every comprehensive high school due to high operative and equipment costs or not enough student enrollment at the school. Instructor to student ratio is low in several skill center programs, allowing the Skill Center staff the time to get to know each student and address their unique learning styles.

• Students from consortium area high schools, who have not earned a high school diploma.

• Home-schooled and private school students who are registered with their local WANIC Consortium school district who have not earned a high school diploma.

• Out-of-consortium high school students may be eligible on a space available basis with a signed shared student agreement. Contact the WANIC office for more information.

Available Full Year Courses

• Automotive Technology

• Aviation Technology - STEM

• Baking & Pastry

• Building Industry Technologies - CorePlus Construction

• Cisco Networking

• Culinary Arts

• Dental Careers

• DigiPen Art & Animation

• DigiPen Data Analytics & Visualization

• DigiPen Game Design

• DigiPen Music & Sound Design

• DigiPen Video Game Programming

• Fire & EMS

• Health Science Careers - Nursing

• Maritime Welding - Core Plus

• Medical Careers

• Sports Medicine - Advanced

1. Learn details about the full year course that interests you including the times and locations. Classes are designed for 11th and 12th grade students. Please note courses, descriptions, locations and times are subject to change. If you attend private school or home school, for funding and reporting purposes you must register with your local, public high school (Inform the high school registrar that you are applying to WANIC).

2. If you wish to apply for a Skill Center class that is located in a high school in your home school district, please consult with your counselor for your district's application procedure; you do not apply through WANIC. This does not apply to Lake Washington SD students who must use the WANIC application to apply for any Skill Center program.

• Issaquah SD students applying to Sports Medicine at Issaquah HS should contact their counselor for In-District Skill Center application process.

3.  All first year DigiPen applicants must attend one of the DigiPen Information Sessions. THESE ARE BEING CONDUCTED THROUGH ZOOM. Contact email wanic@digipen.edu. 

4. Your counselor may request to meet with you to review credits so that you can obtain your school’s approval to enroll at WANIC.

5. Applications received before April 15, 2024 receive priority.

6. Students will not be enrolled before the priority enrollment date. 

7. Once your enrollment has been confirmed by the district offering the skill center course you will be attending, you will receive a confirmation email. These confirmations will be emailed after the priority enrollment date. If you have any questions, please see your high school's career specialist, or contact WANIC at wanic@lwsd.org 425-739-8400.

These Full-Year Skill Center courses have Pre-Requisites:

Aviation: Geometry

Baking & Pastry: Foods class

Cisco Year 1: Computer Technology class

Culinary Arts: Foods or Culinary equivalent

Dental Careers: Biology. Minimum 8th grade reading ability level 

DigiPen Data Analytics & Visualization: Algebra 2

DigiPen Video Game Programming Year 1: Algebra 2 

Health Science Careers -Nursing: Biology. Minimum 8th grade reading ability level 

Medical Careers: Biology. Minimum 8th grade reading ability level 

Sports Medicine: Biology

None, except as noted for lab fees. Barrier Reduction funds may be available for qualifying students.

Click HERE for Barrier Reduction Funds application.

Students at WANIC Skill Center can earn college credit through Pacific NW College Credit, a dual credit program. The majority of the Tech Prep agreements are with Bellevue College and Lake Washington Institute of Technology. The Pacific NW College Credit articulation agreements allow students to earn college credit if they maintain an 85% or better over the course of two semesters. The Pacific NW College Credit program provides a number of benefits to students, parents and teachers. Some of those benefits include the following:

1. Students can earn college credit for professional/technical courses taken within the high school that are managed through the articulation process.

2. Students can streamline their secondary and post-secondary education by not enrolling for coursework that repeats competencies they have already gained through high school classes.

3. Students can spend less on tuition, fees, and books.

4. Students can generally use up to 15 credits of professional/technical coursework toward their transfer degree if they choose to continue on to a four-year university. As in all cases the post-secondary institutions have the final say on acceptance of any credit .

5. Pacific NW College Credit promotes a smooth transition for students from secondary to post-secondary institutions.

6. Students can gain higher skill levels - while not spending valuable time in college retaking courses already completed in the high school.

7. The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges reports that students who receive dual credit: (1) generally show a higher grade point average than their peers while in college, (2) are more likely to transition to their local community college, and (3) are more likely to stay in college.

Students must provide their own transportation. Parking options vary by the location offering the program and it is the responsibility of the student to learn if parking permits are required and available. Digipen works hard to find transportation options for all students.