www.montereycountynow.com december 5-11, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 23 In some ways, CTE reflects a return to educational roots—it is not new. For over 100 years, the federal government has invested in technical education, since the Smith-Hughes National Vocational Education Act was signed into law on Feb. 23, 1917. Back then, the focus was on agriculture, construction and industrial education. While those fields remain relevant, they have other elements that didn’t exist before, chiefly advances in technology, like use of drones and robots in agriculture. To help students gain hands-on experience, school districts offer CTE classes from different trades including local relevant industries like agriculture and hospitality; on-demand careers including health care, education and child care, as well as STEM fields such as robotics, engineering and software development. CTE courses are a way high school students can gain some hands-on experience and glimpses of what being a nurse, an auto mechanic or a teacher is all about in the real world. In the past, the path to postsecondary education didn’t offer the same kind of intentional education structures as it does today. Students could choose elective classes, but those didn’t necessarily transfer into gaining enough skills for entry-level jobs, nor could students carefully plan their postsecondary education to slide smoothly into a college or university track with the right prerequisites for a particular professional path. If Seaside High School students, for example, are interested in STEM fields, they can enroll in a robotics or programming class in high school; after that, students can look at the different routes available locally at colleges and universities that fit their goals. They could transfer to CSU Monterey Bay to pursue a bachelor’s of science in mechatronics engineering, or enroll in the manufacturing technology program at Hartnell College. MPUSD offers 30 courses in eight different disciplines across its four high schools, including in health, robotics and culinary fields. Through CTE, students can obtain various certifications. For example, students enrolled in health care pathways can obtain CPR and Stop the Bleed certifications; culinary students can work toward a ServSafe food handler certification. This school year, Soledad High School offers 12 different CTE pathways. About a third of the student population completes a career pathway and about 340 students took at least one CTE class last school year. The district also offers an elective career exploration class for seventh- and eighth-graders. Tony Sanchez, CTE director for Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, says CTE has changed a lot over the past decade. Previously, there was little interaction with industry leaders; now, administrators and instructors meet regularly with local business and industry experts to keep their programs up to date. “CTE is very much centered on a focus of how we’re going to move not just college kids, but students with skills to connect them to viable careers,” Sanchez says. Defendis notes there is now a new value being applied to technical education, with the hope of giving students, even those who are going to college, a broad spectrum of education and exposure to different skills. “You live for a long time. Why not spend 10 years being a welder, and then transition from being a welder to being a teacher? That’s the kind of perspective that helps the kids a lot,” Defendis says. For the past seven years, the state has worked to rebuild the reputation of vocational education and produce skilled workers in industries that face workforce shortage—future carpenters, electricians, drivers, health care professionals and educators. Left: Career and technical education (CTE) programs offer hands-on experience and students can build their own projects. Robotics students at Seaside High School make a variety of projects during class, including building blocks like electrical circuits. At right, they work collaboratively to build a robot from square one. Below: Vivianah Navarro, 16, measures the capacity of different household spoons while studying pharmacology at Marina High School. Accuracy is important to make sure people get the correct dose of a prescription. Daniel Dreifuss Celia Jiménez
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