February is annually designated as CTE Month for Career and Technical Education. This year’s theme was “Opportunities for Career Success,” giving CTE programs across the country an opportunity to demonstrate how CTE programs make students college- and career-ready and prepare them for high-wage, high-demand career fields.
According to the national Association for Career and Technical Education, 81 percent of dropouts say relevant, real-world learning opportunities would have kept them in high school.
Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education reported by ACTE show that the average high school graduation rate for students concentrating in CTE programs is 90.18 percent, compared to an average national freshman graduation rate of 74.9 percent. The U.S. Department of Education also reports that more than 70 percent of secondary students concentrating on CTE classes pursued post-secondary education shortly after high school.
Career and Technical Education classes at Indus School, such as Family and Consumer Sciences and Industrial Technology, emphasize career and college readiness and provide students with the skills to enter into the workforce.
During February, a new round of projects were under way in the industrial technology department, according to instructor Soren Olesen. Eighth graders began second semester by doing Computer Aided Drafting of a large black box with different angles and some began building bird feeders using basic hand tools like squares, saws and hammers. The metal band saw was used to cut the frame for a new trailer and the wood planer got a workout making some hardwood lids for some new games.
A wooden end table was constructed by a student and only needs a glass top. The welding booth was a busy place. These skills in using tools and learning hands-on will be useful to students in future jobs.
In the Family and Consumer Sciences classes, seventh graders experimented with chemistry by testing fiber content and removing stains from fabrics, and students in fashion/interior design worked with proportions and geometry to create floor plans and 3-D furniture. They also prepared presentation boards incorporating the floor plans and samples of various materials used in interior design. In addition, they used math skills to determine how much flooring and wall coverings to purchase for rooms of various sizes.
ProStart I students learned about the chef skills of preparing stock from meat bones, creating the grand or “mother” sauces, and building a soup from a roux. ProStart II students conducted a marketing project, developed a restaurant menu, and started a baking unit-making spinach “froggy” yeast bread for Leap Day and homemade cupcakes for the recent School Board meeting.
Students in Consumer Education learned about how to make SMART goals, how to use decision-making skills to make a purchase, and how to create a budget.
These skills are “transferable” to many different job settings and can help a student to become successful after graduation.
