Tennessee Gifts Students Career Training Hub in Hendersonville

High schoolers in Hendersonville, Tennessee just got a game-changing gift: a sprawling career training center where they can fly flight simulators, launch businesses, and solve real community problems.

The Carolyn Smith Innovation Center opened its doors to students this week on East Main Street. Randy and Carolyn Smith, longtime donors to Sumner County Schools, gave the district their massive campus at a discounted rate after Carolyn passed away a few years ago.

The space once housed Smith Travel Research, the company Randy founded in the 1980s. Now it's becoming something entirely different: a hands-on learning hub where students from every traditional high school in the county will rotate through during the week.

"We've talked about for over a decade, how do we provide students with real opportunities to learn about their first and future career," said Scott Langford, director of Sumner County Schools. The district is already thinking beyond PowerPoint presentations.

This semester marks a soft opening with only dual-enrollment students. By fall, the center will welcome all high school students for courses in criminal justice, content creation, entrepreneurship, and aviation.

Several flight simulators are already installed on-site. The district plans to partner with local industries to bring in subject-matter experts and mentors who can guide students through real-world projects.

The Ripple Effect

Langford envisions the center becoming an incubator where students create actual products that solve community needs. Within a couple years, about 2,500 students annually will move through the campus, preparing for a rapidly changing world shaped by AI and emerging technologies.

The building itself feels nothing like a typical school. Think ski lodge vibes with fireplaces, wood ceilings, and large windows overlooking nature.

"It just feels more casual," said Hanne Louw, a junior at Liberty Creek High who visited on Friday. "Students are going to be more pushed to do their work. They're gonna be able to move around to different spaces and be able to see different things, see nature."

Louw and her classmates keep hearing the same reaction from adults touring the space: "I didn't get to do this when I was younger!" The center provides free bus transportation so students from across the county can access the opportunities equally.

Langford calls the gift transformational for both the school district and community. Students will work alongside peers from different schools, building networks while building skills that prepare them for careers that might not even exist yet.

The Innovation Center runs every day of the week, turning what was once corporate office space into a place where Tennessee teenagers can dream bigger.