Lively Technical College in Tallahassee, Florida

Lively Technical College is the technical college of Leon County Schools, the public school district for Tallahassee and Leon County.

The Leon County Schools website lists Lively Technical College among its schools, beside Adult and Community Education. The college's home page gives its main campus as 500 North Appleyard Drive, Tallahassee 32304, and its aviation campus as 3290 Capital Circle Southwest, Tallahassee 32310, with the phone number (850) 487-7555 and office hours of Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The director's message is signed by BJ Van Camp, director.

Lively's own Tallahassee home page gives two program counts: one banner reads 30 career programs and another reads 33 career programs and 14 night-time programs. The page also says students can start a career in one year and reports an 88% job placement rate within industries; those figures are the college's own claims.

Lively was established in Tallahassee in 1937 by Lewis Lively, a local businessman, and opened with 52 students.

According to the college's About page, Lively founded the Tallahassee vocational school with the hope that it would give individuals the education and training needed to obtain gainful employment and earn a living. It opened with one full-time instructor, one half-time instructor and 52 students. Today, the page says, Lively serves thousands of students annually with a faculty and staff of 85.

The same page says Lively is designated by the Florida State Board of Education to serve primarily Leon, Gadsden and Wakulla counties, while welcoming students from throughout North Florida, South Georgia and Alabama and other countries. It occupies two Tallahassee sites, the main campus and a campus the page still calls the campus at the Tallahassee Regional Airport, and part-time career enhancement courses for city, county and state agencies and private businesses are often held at the hosts' own facilities.

Lively's Tallahassee program list covers six career clusters, from health science and aviation mechanics to the building trades, personal care and baking.

The aviation programs are taught at the Capital Circle Southwest campus, and the home page lists Professional Nursing (LPN-RN), Plumbing and Specialized Career Education among its featured programs.

Full-time day students at Lively attend from 8:00 to 4:00, select programs run part-time at night, and Leon County high school students can enroll through Career Dual Enrollment.

The Tallahassee college's home page says day programs are offered full-time and part-time, with full-time enrollment hours of 8:00 to 4:00 and morning or afternoon part-time options for some programs, and that select programs offer evening enrollment on a part-time basis. It also states that the average Lively student has $0.00 in debt at graduation, again the college's own figure.

Leon County Schools' career and technical options page explains Career Dual Enrollment: Leon County full-time high school students age 16 or older who have earned at least 11 credits can split the day between Lively and their home high school, completing an industry-approved technical program while finishing graduation requirements. Transportation from home to Lively is the student's responsibility, and students start with their home high school guidance counselor. The About page adds that Lively offers dual enrollment programs at Rickards, Godby and Chiles high schools in Tallahassee and at Wakulla High School.

The district pitches the option as a way to earn a high school diploma, complete a technical program, obtain an industry credential or license and earn high school credit at the same time, and the Lively home page says Career Dual Enrollment credits may also satisfy high school graduation requirements. The same Tallahassee home page listed a College and Career Showcase career fair on April 30, 2026, and an open enrollment date for new students of May 18, 2026, both now past; prospective students can also arrange a campus tour through student services.

Lively answers to the elected Leon County School Board, while Tallahassee State College, its neighbor on Appleyard Drive, answers to a board of trustees appointed by the Governor.

Florida law describes the arrangement for district career centers. Section 1001.44, Florida Statutes, lets a district school board, with Department of Education approval, operate a career center as part of the district school system, under the control of that school board and directed by a director responsible through the district superintendent. The Leon County School Board is made up of five district-level elected members serving four-year terms, with Dr. Marcus Nicolas listed as chair and Darryl Jones as vice chair, and the same site lists Rocky Hanna as superintendent of schools.

Tallahassee State College's locations page puts its main campus at 444 Appleyard Drive, about 3.5 miles west of the State Capitol and two miles west of Florida State University, with service centers in Gadsden and Wakulla counties and downtown Tallahassee, and its District Board of Trustees page says trustees are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Florida Senate. The two schools overlap in some trades: TSC's Kim B. Williams Advanced Manufacturing Training Center at 3958 West Pensacola Street trains students toward electrical and welding certifications, close to Lively's own electricity and welding programs.

Lively, the Leon County Schools technical college, lists the Council on Occupational Education and Cognia among its accrediting bodies, along with program approvals from the Florida Board of Nursing and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Tallahassee college's accreditations page lists the Florida Board of Nursing, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Educational Standards Corporation, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation with the Florida Rider Training Program, HVAC Excellence, the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation, Cognia and the Council on Occupational Education. A notice on every Lively page says the college is applying for reaffirmation of accreditation with the Commission of the Council on Occupational Education and invites written comments to the commission's executive director in Atlanta.

Private support has grown alongside the Tallahassee programs. Lively's news post on the 2026 Titans Rise Gala, its second annual gala, held on Friday, September 18, says the event raised more than $84,000 for student scholarships, workforce training opportunities and program enhancements, and quotes director BJ Van Camp thanking the community.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against Lively Technical College's home, About, programs, accreditations and director's message pages and its gala news post, Leon County Schools' career options and School Board pages, section 1001.44 of the Florida Statutes and Tallahassee State College's locations, trustees and AMTC pages.