I think kids don't know what we offer. In the old days, it used to be shop.
Then they called it Vocational Ed. Now it's just called Career and Technical Ed and it includes everything
from working in the woodshop, to culinary arts, child development, computer science, engineering, biomed.
We have a lot of different pathways that get them more career ready in what we would call 21st century skills
as well as specific tracks that make you more employable or a higher priority to get into
an advanced program at the next level because of your experience in high school.
I really want to be a teacher and I thought that this class would be a really good foundation for it,
especially with all the lesson planning and interaction with the different kids.
Creating a relationship and a bond with the preschooler is really gonna
help me know how to deal with situations that could possibly happen becoming a teacher.
Like fundamental lesson planning, how to interact with kids and being responsible and doing the things that
you need to do, and just being there for other people.
Biomed is basically a class to open more people into what medical professionals do.
You're getting hands-on experience, like, without just reading it on a piece of paper.
Standards these days, they're becoming higher and higher for students
on how, what colleges expect and what hospitals expect when they're accepting
people to work there. So, this brings people into a more mature level of thinking.
I plan on becoming an emergency medicine doctor, so it's really going to help me.
Basically, anything you want, you can do in this class.
With wood, metal sometimes, and basically just lets you be you.
Chairs and cabinets are cool, but a Kayak is something I'm more interested in. I've always grown up using
my hands but if you haven't it's a really good skill to have in the future.
I was more into engineering, like with computers and stuff, but after I started
woodworking I just fell in love with it. It gives people a chance to
experience other things other than just technology. It's something that I'll never get tired of, basically.
Computer science, once you really get into it it's really fun to find ways to solve certain
problems as well as just look at how computers connect. I really want to go
into the field of cyber security. Right now is extremely high demand and it's
actually really intriguing and fun to solve problems.
I've been into computers ever since I was little. I like that you can do your own thing with it kind of,
and it's more, like, you can have creativity with it. Our world is
full of technology and if we don't have people who know how to do that we can't
like, grow as a community. Especially like for girls, if they don't know that, like,
other women are being successful in the STEM areas then they don't know that they can do that too.
I'm not really a creative person. I'm not super artsy, but I took photography because I always liked taking
pictures, so just kind of fit. I want to do mechanical engineering as my career.
So, I know when I took first year engineering, um, the biggest thing we
went over those principles of design. The largest element of this class when it
comes to taking good photos is principle of design and they're the exact same.
So, like the rigor and like having to fine-tune everything you do to make it right or it's just not right.
I joined marketing as a freshman to get my CTE credit, so being able to talk
about Nike and advertisements I see every day in the real world was a really cool
opportunity. And so once I was in there, I was really interested in marketing and I
was able to join DECA since they're really closely aligned. When I first came
into high school I had a really hard time talking in front of people and
communicating and getting to know new people. And throughout the three years
that I've been in DECA, I've gotten so much better at, like, getting in front of
large groups and not being as nervous, which has been a great help.
I've decided I'm gonna go to Whitworth University next fall and study business, and
actually doing real business scenarios that we'll learn about in college not
only helped prepare myself for business in college but also develop a passion for it too.
I'm not going into business but I do want to go into a health field.
The things I've learned in DECA have helped me with communicating, which will help a lot in that.
Almost every single job, doesn't matter what it is, requires some
type of skilled trade. Whether it's computer operator, hydraulics, knowing how
to cook, nutritional values, all of those skill sets are what people need in
skilled trades. And the salaries and benefits in those jobs are living wage
or better, with benefits. Many of those employers will also pay for additional
training. Kids who were CTE completers, that means they've done three courses
and graduated from high school, have a tendency to get into programs easier
because of their background, they're preferred applicants, and they have a
tendency to stay and graduate college at a higher rate then kids who don't have CTE.