WANIC

What’s WANIC? 

WANIC (Washington Network for Innovative Careers) is an organization funded by Eastside school districts to offer career-focused half-day programs for high school credit. The courses are specialized for only some career interests, primarily including automotive, aviation, building trades, medical, art/animation, video games, some tech careers, firefighting, and culinary. 

Find a course list & registration link on the WANIC webpage. Courses are held for around 2.5 hours EVERY DAY FOR THE ENTIRE SCHOOL YEAR, either at Digipen, Lake Washington Tech or various Eastside high schools – and transportation is NOT provided. Work primarily is done in class with little to no homework.

Aligning With GEHS Goals

These courses align well with our goals for internships at Gibson Ek, which is why we accept them as an internship alternative for 301s and 401s. WANIC courses:

• Employ a hands-on approach
• Focus on “workplace expectations” that align with the professional soft skills we teach
• Are taught primarily by professionals
• Often include shadow days at work sites
• Sometimes lead to professional certificates
• Sometimes offer students the option to apply for college credit if they earn a “B” or higher. But they are not the same as Running Start; the WANIC courses that do offer college credit are considered high school credit courses on "dual enrollment." Students must apply for the college credit and meet certain requirements to earn it.

Hard-to-Find LTI Areas

WANIC provides career-based experiences in areas where in-person internships can be challenging to find due to safety considerations (health & medicine, building trades, firefighting, science lab work, aviation, automotive and even culinary) or a lack of in-person worksites (game design, sound design, art & animation, hardware networking). 

2-Year Options

A few WANIC courses are two-year programs that a student must begin as a junior if they want both years, but any of the single-year courses and the first year of two-year courses are available to both juniors and seniors, if seats are available. Some courses carry small program fees.  

Potential Graduation Pathway 

All year-long WANIC programs will meet the State of Washington's Graduation Pathway requirement for graduation. If your student has not met standard on the SBA, or if your student has challenges with standardized tests, WANIC programs will fulfill the Graduation Pathway requirement through the CTE Sequence Option. Contact our school counselor with questions.

Designed for Any Student

WANIC courses should be geared toward every student, whether college-bound or not. WANIC has an IEP liaison to help ensure those students receive appropriate support. Some college-bound students will use the WANIC program as a head start and inside look into careers that require four-year degrees.

Impact on M-W-F

Most WANIC courses are 2.5 hours daily for the entire school year, starting early in the morning or around lunchtime. Specific times and locations for each program are listed on the WANIC site. On T-Th, WANIC would count as a student’s LTI, with the student tackling SDL or capstone work for the rest of the day.

On M-W-F, the student would need to miss part of our GE day.  The student would likely either:

• miss morning advisory and part of Exploration OR 
• miss Content, D-Lab and PM Advisory time

This yearlong absence for a portion of each M-W-F could negatively impact a student’s ability to stay on track for graduating at Gibson Ek. The student’s advisor should feel confident that the student can manage the loss of GE time. In fact, the WANIC process mandates that the school counselor approve each student's registration.

Summer Options

WANIC also offers a menu of free or free-ish summer courses, including some “intro” versions of the full-year courses as well as completely different offerings. This is a separate application process that opens in March.

Applying and Approval

If after considering the impact, reading the WANIC website, and talking to the advisor, a family decides it’s best for the student to apply, click the full-year application “button” during the February and March application period. Priority applications close at the end of March, meaning any student who applies before then has an equal chance of being selected for popular courses. Students who apply after that date will automatically be placed at the end of the waiting list for courses that are full. 

Options for learning more about WANIC:

• Read through the WANIC site carefully.
• Watch the program intro videos posted on this page of the WANIC site.
• Attend the WANIC open house in March at Lake Washington Tech.
• Ask GE staff to connect you with students who have participated in your desired course.

Digipen Heads Up: Any student interested in a WANIC course at Digipen MUST attend a Digipen info session to be considered for the program.