SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 30, 2026--
Is AI wiping out tech jobs? Quite the contrary: tech roles are projected to grow twice as fast as the rest of the U.S. economy over the next decade, according to the Computing Technology Industry Association ’s (CompTIA) 2026 State of the Tech Workforce report.
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Learn4Life, a network of 90+ public high schools, wants to give their students a jumpstart on a high paying career. The schools’ digital technology CTE pathway gives students an edge in the field before they get their diplomas.
“They get hands-on instruction in tech literacy, hardware and software troubleshooting, computer networking and basic security,” said Learn4Life Chula Vista digital technology CTE teacher, Robert Link. “So even before they graduate, we help them pass the CompTIAA+ certification exam, which prepares them for work as a help desk technician, IT support specialist or field service technician.”
“I definitely recommend this course to any students new to the field and looking for hands-on experience. Before enrolling I had never planned on a career in tech, but with my new skillset I’m excited to explore my options after graduation,” said Learn4Life digital technology CTE student, Maria O.
Courses like these set students up with a strong foundation for pursuing higher paying technology careers with further education.
They can go on to explore more complex and high paying careers in cybersecurity, networking, systems administration and cloud technologies.
The digital technology pathway is just one of Learn4Life’s CTE options that gives students hands-on skills while earning college credits or industry-recognized certifications, along with relevant training in customer service skills, cover letters writing, resume building, applications and mock interviews. Students attend workshops, hear guest speakers from local industries, and participate in work-based learning experiences through field trips and college tours.
“Students shouldn’t have to wait until after graduation to start preparing for a career. They can leave high school with more than a diploma. They can leave with skills, confidence and a clear sense of direction,” said Link.
About Learn4Life
Learn4Life is a network of nonprofit public high schools that provide students personalized learning, career training and life skills. Each school is locally controlled, tuition free and gives students the flexibility and one-on-one attention they need to succeed. Serving more than 64,000 students through a year-round program, we help them prepare for a future beyond high school. For more information, please visit www.learn4life.org.
AI is Fueling a Tech Boom, How Can High School Students Capitalize?
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal appeals court halted the execution in Tennessee of Christa Pike about an hour before it was set to begin Wednesday.
The judges said they want to review whether her allegations of sexual abuse and rape as a child were fully considered before she was sentenced to death.
Now 50, she was convicted of a 1995 murder she committed at age 18. This would have been the state’s first execution of a woman in at least 200 years.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Tennessee’s attorney general was appealing the decision or how long the execution might be delayed. A phone message and email were left with a spokesperson for the attorney general's office seeking comment.
Execution witnesses had already gathered at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville when the order came down at around 9 a.m. CDT.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee is preparing to put to death Christa Gail Pike for a 1995 murder she committed at age 18 in what would be the state's first execution of a woman in at least 200 years.
Pike, now 50, is scheduled to be executed Wednesday morning by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of stabbing and beating 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, their classmate at a job training facility in Knoxville.
The case garnered widespread attention at the time in part because a pentagram that was carved on Slemmer's body and other elements of the crime stoked fears of Satan worship during the “satanic panic” of the 1980s and 1990s. As the execution date drew near, it renewed debate over the death penalty for young offenders.
Pike does not deny committing the killing, but her supporters argue the state should consider Pike’s age at the time, mental illness and a history of severe sexual abuse that included being raped from the time she was a toddler. Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell said Pike’s death sentence is an outlier because other 18-year-olds sentenced to death in Tennessee have had their sentences vacated.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a request from Pike's attorneys to halt the execution. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Monday denied Pike clemency.
“I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done,” Pike said in a statement included in her clemency petition. “Even more to accept how many lives I affected. I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime.”
Slemmer’s mother wants the lethal injection to go forward, saying she has waited decades to see Pike’s sentence carried out.
“Every time I think about it, I think about Colleen feeling that pain and trying to get up and run,” May Martinez said in a telephone interview.
Martinez said a group helped raise money so she and her husband could travel from Florida to witness the execution.
The 1995 killing rocked the city of Knoxville. Prosecutors said Pike, fearing Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend, lured her to a wooded area on Jan. 12, 1995. Pike cut Slemmer with a box cutter and beat her with a large chunk of asphalt. Shipp, Pike’s boyfriend, has admitted that he was the one who carved a pentagram, a star-shaped symbol associated with Satanism, into her body.
Shipp was 17 when the crime happened and received a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole. Pike was the only one sentenced to death.
Tennessee has not executed a woman for at least 200 years, according to Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Older records can be spotty, though, so it’s difficult to know precise details about the last woman who was put to death there.
It's a rarity across the U.S. Since 1976, 18 women have been put to death in the country, representing about 1% of all executions, according to the center.
Most recently, Missouri in 2023 executed Amber McLaughlin for a 2003 killing, in what is believed to be the first execution of a transgender woman in the U.S. In 2021, the federal government executed Lisa Montgomery, marking the first time in nearly seven decades that the U.S. government put a female inmate to death.
Chandler reported from Montgomery, Alabama.
Abraham Bonowitz speaks during a March 4 Mercy protest against the death penalty at the Tennessee State Capitol, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of the Sept. 30th scheduled execution of Christa Pike. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Alonzo Hughes participates in a March 4 Mercy protest against the death penalty at the Tennessee State Capitol, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of the Sept. 30th scheduled execution of Christa Pike. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
In this image from video provided by WBIR-TV, Christa Pike cries after being sentenced to death on March 30, 1996 in Knoxville, Tenn. (WBIR-TV via AP)
This photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows Christa Pike on Jan. 12, 2023. (TDOC via AP)
