Decatur High School seniors are getting a chance to enter the real estate industry before they even receive their high school diplomas.

Decatur High School and Georgia real estate broker Olivia J. Price are launching Georgia’s first high school work-based learning real estate program for the 2026-27 school year, giving seniors hands-on industry experience, academic credit and a pathway that could allow them to graduate high school with a Georgia real estate salesperson license.

The program is a partnership between Decatur High School’s Career Academy and Price’s real estate firm, Olivia J Price Real Estate. Students will learn about residential, commercial and new-development real estate while gaining experience in financial literacy, entrepreneurship, marketing, sales and business.

The program’s launch materials describe it as the first high school work-based learning real estate program in Georgia. Price also described it in an interview as “one of Georgia’s first” work-based learning real estate programs.

One of the program’s biggest draws is the possibility of earning a professional license while still in high school.

Students will study for the Georgia real estate salesperson exam as part of the program. Georgia requires applicants for a salesperson license to be at least 18, have a high school diploma or equivalent, complete a 75-hour approved prelicense course and pass the state examination.

Because the students in the program are seniors, those who turn 18 and meet the other requirements could potentially complete the licensing process around the time they graduate. The program therefore gives students a path to leave high school with a professional credential that can be used to begin working in real estate under a licensed broker.

The program combines that licensing preparation with experience outside the classroom. Students will visit development sites, learn how professionals evaluate neighborhoods and potential buyers, explore the transaction process and participate in activities such as open houses and door knocking.

They also will tour commercial sites in Decatur and learn about economic development and the relationship between real estate and local government. Price said students will get to see the industry from the development side, through the formal transaction itself.

“They’ll be seeing how to actually work with the buyer to purchase a home,” Price said. “Also, they’ll be learning about… the rules of real estate, right? The do’s and don’ts, some etiquette that comes [with] the industry.”

Price, who is one of Georgia’s youngest Black real estate brokerage owners, started her career in sales, first selling cars and later working in insurance before entering real estate. She said real estate was not a career she saw modeled for her while growing up in Gainesville, Florida.

“I came from a predominantly Black high school,” Price said. “And though my high school had certain skill set jobs that you can [learn], like nursing and fields like that, but no one really touched real estate.”

That experience helped motivate her to create a program that introduces students to an industry she believes many young people may overlook.

Price said the goal is not necessarily to turn every participant into a real estate agent. Instead, she wants students to gain skills they can use regardless of their eventual career.

“The core is going to be sales, working with people, customer service, how to deal with disputes, how to just deal with personal [conflicts],” Price said. “It’s a universal skill set that the kids will be able to take along with them in whatever field they choose to go to.”

Decatur High School became the program’s partner after Price and her team visited the school to speak with students about real estate. The Career Academy was looking for industry partners, and the presentation eventually led to discussions about turning the partnership into a formal course. Price said the program took several years to develop before officially launching this school year.

The students entering the program have already made their commitment. A signing day was held in April, where the participating seniors formally committed to the program in front of family, friends and community supporters. Price said the students chose the program among the many other activities and commitments competing for their time.

For Price, that commitment was already a measure of success.

“Just the fact that we had a wonderful group, a handful of students who wanted to even do the program,” she said. “That is a success for us.”

The program is ultimately about giving students another option before they step into adulthood, one that combines classroom credit with real-world experience and, for students who meet Georgia’s licensing requirements, the possibility of beginning their professional real estate careers soon after graduation.

“This is the next generation of real estate [professionals]  that we’re working with,” Price said.

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