- December 9, 2025
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Lakewood Ranch High freshman Landon Dees was in the school's media center Nov. 5 when he was called to the new Lakewood Ranch College and Career Center by Vito Bavaro, the college and career advisor at the school.
Dees doesn’t know what path he wants to pursue after high school, but said the career center, which has various resources such as pamphlets, books and scholarship opportunities, is a great resource for students like him.
He said the center can educate students about how to use their skills and talents in places they might not have expected.
“Lots of kids' lives have been what others want of them,” Dees said. “It's hard for someone to realize what they truly want and not what others want for them. With a program like this, kids can choose a college they desire to focus on their career choice and their path of life.”
The grand opening for the new career center was on Nov. 5. The high school's band played followed by a ribbon cutting. Bavaro said there was a similar career center years ago in another area of the high school, but it didn't get much traffic. He thought the library would be a better space for it.
Bavaro said Lakewood Ranch High is heavily based on college preparation, but he is proud that the center caters to every student in the school, no matter their career direction. It doesn’t matter if they plan to go to college, trade school, the military or directly into the workforce. There is something for everyone.
The center was a collaboration between Bavaro and the media specialist Audrey Dombroski. It is to help students with colleges and careers, but also to help bring students to the library.
“It is a struggle to get high school kids into libraries,” Dombroski said. “It's not that they're disinterested, I think they have just such small windows of opportunity.”
Dombroski said she was more than eager to use what Bavaro called “dead space” in the library.
“I wanted it to be open, and inviting,” Bavaro said.
Bavaro has a group of 12 students, who he described as the “brightest of the brightest” who assist in projects such as the college and career fairs. Seniors Gavin Moore, Abigail Frint and Ryan Johnson were among the group and each had a hand in setting up what is referred to as the "career corner."
Gavin Moore, a senior who wants to pursue computer science, said the center is important because it shows the potential of what students can pursue later in life.
“That's what high school is supposed to be,” Moore said. “It's supposed to be a stepping stone for your career in college. This helps ease the transition for many that would otherwise not know where to go.”
Frint wants to study kinesiology to become an athletic trainer or physical therapist. She said students do often overlook the importance of utilizing resources such as guidance counselors and career advisors, but hopes the career corner will help reopen that door.
Frint also emphasized the importance of going after scholarships, especially local ones, which are posted on the bulletin board. She said students often go for the bigger ones worth more money, but overlook the smaller amounts, that can add up.
She said $1,000 here and there really does make an ig impact, especially toward essentials for education like textbooks, dining and housing.
Frint said the path isn't always going to be linear, especially for students in high school moving onto the next step.
“For people whose path keeps changing, just acknowledging that it's not the same pace or the same path for everybody is important," Frint said. "To find what you want to do, you should try to find something that you love and you're passionate about to enjoy in the future.”
“I think showing that education doesn't end in high school is the best thing to do for our students,” Dombroski said. “There's more to get and more to see.”
