Class Act with Chris Wragge returned for our fourth season Friday morning, live from Newark Tech in Essex County, New Jersey.
Gone are the old stereotypes of vocational and technical schools. This hotbed of higher learning draws on the best of the county’s 22 towns.
The state-of-the-art school on West Market Street features world class facilities and world class teachers leading a student body that’s eager to excel.
Learn more about Newark Tech and what sets it apart in the updates below.
Newark Tech offering world class facilities and world class teachers
Newark Tech students getting state of the art education
A look inside Newark Tech’s ambulance simulator
Everywhere you look, students aren’t just coming to class, they’re getting a jump on a career in the medical field, as the next wave of dentists, dental hygienists, emergency medical technicians, nurses, welders and experts in the fields of robotics or auto mechanics.
The school has an ambulance simulator, the only one of its kind at a high school in New Jersey and the gold standard of hands-on learning. The automotive and engineering robotics departments are also massively popular for carpentry and welding.
The school’s vision is to create a learning community where excellence is expected of everyone.
“I would actually describe this, for me, as an educational oasis. For us here, we get to prepare our students for college and career. So we’re just not just one-sided. So with the facilities that we have, with the amazing staff members that we have here, our students are really, really being prepared for the future,” says Principal Dr. Jenabu C. Williams.
Students come from Essex County’s 22 municipalities and, since they choose to be there, absenteeism rates are some of the lowest for big cities in the nation.
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This coverage aired on Oct 24, 2025 on CBS New York
