This episode focuses on the growth and development of Career & Technical Education (CTE) programming in the Harrisburg School District. CTE prepares students for the world of work by introducing them to workplace competencies in a real-world experiences.
Host JoAnne VerMulm is joined by HSD staff and team members:
If you're interested in finding out more about our CTE program, taking a tour of our facilities or partnering with us, contact Mike, Breanne or Travis at their linked email addresses above.
This episode focuses on the growth and development of Career & Technical Education (CTE) programming in the Harrisburg School District. CTE prepares students for the world of work by introducing them to workplace competencies in a real-world experiences.
Host JoAnne VerMulm is joined by HSD staff and team members:
If you're interested in finding out more about our CTE program, taking a tour of our facilities or partnering with us, contact Mike, Breanne or Travis at their linked email addresses above.
Transcript
00:00:03 JoAnne
We're giving you more than just the 411. This is the Harrisburg 412 podcast, coming to you from Southern Sioux Falls and Harrisburg, SD.
00:00:20 JoAnne
Welcome to Harrisburg 412, the podcast. My name is Joanne VerMulm. I am the communications director for the Harrisburg School District.
00:00:28 JoAnne
And I'm joined today by three very special guests, Dr Amolins, Mrs Breanne Lynch and Mr Travis Lape.
00:00:36 JoAnne
Our guests today are joining us to talk about the topic of career and technical education in the Harrisburg School District.
00:00:44 JoAnne
Before we get started, I will give you a little bit of background about each one of our guests.
00:00:50 JoAnne
Doctor Amolins is the director of instruction and federal programming for the district.
00:00:55 JoAnne
He is currently in his 14th year with the Harrisburg School District and began as a chemistry and physics teacher at Harrisburg High School.
00:01:05 JoAnne
Breanne Lynch is our career and technical education coordinator.
00:01:09 JoAnne
She is in her 4th year at the Harrisburg School District and has been in education for 10 years.
00:01:15 JoAnne
Prior to coming to us, Mrs Lynch was a business education.
00:01:20 JoAnne
And had various experience in business and marketing.
00:01:24 JoAnne
And last but not least, Mr Travis Lape is our innovative programs director.
00:01:29 JoAnne
Travis has been with the district for 10 years and began as a fourth grade teacher in the district, moved on to a tech integrationist and was an assistant principal prior to his current position.
00:01:41 JoAnne
Welcome to all of you and thanks for joining us today.
00:01:44 Mike
Hey, Joanne, it's great to be here.
00:01:46 Breanne
Thanks Joanne, this should be fun.
00:01:48 Travis
Hey, thanks for having me, Joanne.
00:01:49 Travis
It's going to be fun with the three of us sharing as much as we can.
00:01:54 JoAnne
We got a lot of people passionate about career technical education in.
00:01:57 JoAnne
This room today.
00:01:59 JoAnne
So what is career and technical education you may have noted as vo-tech or vocational technical school in the past, and today we call it career and technical education or CTE.
00:02:12 JoAnne
Not only has the name changed, but so has the stigma attached to pursuing degrees in these areas and the students who are.
00:02:19 JoAnne
Taking these courses and we are seeing students of all abilities.
00:02:24 JoAnne
Right out of the gate.
00:02:26 JoAnne
Getting jobs based off of an internship or.
00:02:30 JoAnne
You're going right into Technical College with credits under their belt already.
00:02:36 JoAnne
Or with a certification under their belt.
00:02:39 JoAnne
Or with a great scholarship.
00:02:42 JoAnne
Or with a job while they go to school.
00:02:45 JoAnne
So, Brianne, why don't you start by telling us in a nutshell, what is career and technical education today?
00:02:51 Breanne
I think in brief, CTE just opens doors, it builds networks and provides access for kids.
00:02:55 Breanne
And so we do that in Harrisburg with providing opportunities for kindergarten all the way through 12th.
00:03:00 Breanne
Right and beyond.
00:03:01 Travis
I think that like the exciting thing about career and technical education is it really allows us to open doors and pathways that maybe kids have not seen before.
00:03:10 Travis
And so we always talk about as a team, kids, kids become what they see and so if they can't see it, they they don't know about it.
00:03:18 Travis
And I think career and technical education.
00:03:20 Travis
Place it a vital part in opening those doors and experiences for kids.
00:03:26 Mike
Yeah, you know, I I think I have a little bit unique perspective.
00:03:29 Mike
I think in general my job is to make sure that we have an option for every, every kid to explore their interest to search career pathways and CT is unique in that.
00:03:40 Mike
It, it's just an incredible slate of of careers there's a lot of hands on.
00:03:47 Mike
There's a lot of innovation and creativity, and I think it's just a wonderful opportunity for kids to not only explore those careers but also build skills that they're going to need to be successful in life, even if they go down a different path.
00:03:59 JoAnne
Our district is a really good job of.
00:04:02 JoAnne
Providing a lot of pathways for our students, no matter what their interest is.
00:04:08 JoAnne
How does career and technical education fit into that mix and what does it provide?
00:04:13 JoAnne
For our students.
00:04:14 Travis
I think back to just my my personal experience.
00:04:18 Travis
You know, being a part of a career and technical education course allowed me to just explore, explore different opportunities in the.
00:04:27 Travis
World of work.
00:04:28 Travis
In the world that I was going to be entering after graduation and so I think those, those type of opportunities are different than.
00:04:37 Travis
And, say our athletic program, they provide awesome opportunities for kids, but our career and technical education courses connect really what they're doing in their classroom to the world to a career.
00:04:51 Travis
And so kids are able to explore that, find out what they're passionate about it.
00:04:56 Travis
You know what they're passionate about.
00:04:58 Travis
Come in and and how does that connect to the future?
00:05:02 Travis
And so I think when Doctor Amlan talks about his role in the district and really connecting the curriculum in the pathways, it really is important that we're intentional about those pathways in those connections so that kids see themselves in the future, they see what's going forward.
00:05:17 Travis
As well as giving them skills that they'll use no matter what they do, I'm really talking about setting goals for themselves, striving for accuracy when they're doing a project that's not for their teacher, but for the community.
00:05:30 Travis
So now that that brings the bar up a little bit because now you're doing something bigger for or somebody else.
00:05:36 Mike
Yeah, I think Travis makes a great point there.
00:05:38 Mike
You know, there are really two ways that I think CTE stands out separate from a lot of other educational programs.
00:05:44 Mike
And one of them is those life skills that you're.
00:05:46 Mike
Hiring, right?
00:05:47 Mike
You're all, you're all going to have, you know, either a home that you own or rent or or somewhere that you're saying that you're going to have basic needs that need to be met, little construction projects.
00:05:57 Mike
Uhm, you know, vehicles and and you know there's other, there are other areas of city as well, you know, nutrition and Wellness, media production, there are a lot of areas that you can gain skills that you're going to benefit from in your everyday.
00:06:10 Mike
I think the other way that it really stands apart is that it is deeply rooted in community, partnerships and relationships with the businesses and industries that are present.
00:06:19 Mike
And and so, you know, if I'm going to be a biology major and I'm really interested in science, I'm learning foundational skills that are going to benefit me in future careers and that's.
00:06:29 Mike
That's absolutely something that we need for our kids.
00:06:32 Mike
However, in CTE you are learning directly about those careers from step one.
00:06:37 Mike
And so whether that means getting kids out into the into the community to do internships or or work with a business partner on a community service project or even just in our own classrooms learning what those skills look like when you're utilizing industry grade equipment, I think it's it's a very different experience than just learning those foundational.
00:06:57 Mike
Skills that we see in a lot of our core subject areas.
00:07:01 JoAnne
Did any of you take a course in high school that kind of sparked your interest?
00:07:05 Travis
You know, I was, I was in different agricultural education courses.
00:07:09 Travis
I the city, so that I was a part of was FFA.
00:07:11 Travis
But so I took anywhere from woodworking classes to ag mechanics to welding things that I mean.
00:07:18 Travis
I I tell my wife all the time, like if I need to do a little bead of welding, I'm I'm confident if I can do that.
00:07:25 Travis
If we're talking something bigger, I'm probably going to pay for it to be done.
00:07:28 Travis
But there are little skills that I've learned throughout those courses that now I have as an adult that I can use everyday to solve little problems around my own home.
00:07:37 Mike
You know, I actually, you know, I I grew up in a larger community and at a time when kind of a uh a pathway towards 4 year colleges and universities was a a really strong push.
00:07:50 Mike
And so CTE courses were available, but they were not really promoted.
00:07:55 Mike
And I think that was a huge disservice.
00:07:57 Mike
I know, I think.
00:07:58 Mike
About that often because a lot of my interests and hobbies now as an adult are in that realm.
00:08:02 Mike
And I honestly think had I been given more exposure to that field that I I maybe you know.
00:08:08 Mike
Very well have followed a different career path, may not say.
00:08:11 Mike
I mean, you know, educators rising and and education courses are also part of career technical education.
00:08:16 Mike
And I maybe I wouldn't have.
00:08:17 Mike
Maybe I would have ended up right where I'm at.
00:08:19 Mike
But I I know that I would have had a very different high school.
00:08:21 Mike
Experience had I had exposure to those opportunities.
00:08:25 JoAnne
Mr Roger is a great story about listening to a speaker talk about the fact that he was a ditch digger and.
00:08:33 JoAnne
He made six figures being a ditch digger, and he actually loved digging ditches.
00:08:39 JoAnne
You know the world needs ditch diggers, and what is wrong with that?
00:08:45 Mike
And it's, it's not enjoying.
00:08:46 Mike
I think you make a very good point that you know for so long the stigma has been well, if I can't go to a four year college then I will go into one of these other career choices.
00:08:55 Mike
And the reality is, is what we're seeing now is this shift where kids, yeah, I can go.
00:09:00 Mike
To a four year college and.
00:09:01 Mike
Qualify, but I'm going to go this direction because that's where my interests lie and there are incredible career opportunities in all of our trades and and other CTE related fields.
00:09:12 Mike
And so I think what we're seeing at least in our district right now is a shift in perspective where there is a mutual level of respect regardless.
00:09:21 Mike
Of the pathway choice and it's for some of the reasons that you just mentioned that there are a lot of high paying careers and opportunities as well as just seeing it as another pathway that kids can take to explore their interests and and find something that they're passionate about.
00:09:34 Breanne
So if we look at that shift in context of our Harrisburg School district, right, and the things that we've done to really move that needle forward, we've looked at the expansion of construction as a pathway.
00:09:43 Breanne
The Home Builders Academy, like Travis said, is a half $1,000,000 project in our backyard, which is absolutely phenomenal.
00:09:48 Breanne
So killed kids can have that opportunity to earn a dual credit through a technical school, but then build a full-fledged house.
00:09:54 Breanne
Inside of a climate controlled building, which is a really cool experience.
00:09:58 Breanne
And then expanding beyond that residential piece, we can then partner with people and they can look at commercial construction.
00:10:04 Breanne
Today we got to take kids out to a welder welder brother site where they got to look at the hardscaping and landscaping side of construction.
00:10:10 Breanne
So just one pathway 1 industry is thinking of construction.
00:10:13 Breanne
We may default to it's building homes, its carpentry, it's finished carpentry, those types of.
00:10:18 Breanne
Things, but that industry alone has boomed and we know there's a huge demand in our area, so really captivating.
00:10:24 Breanne
Those work for shifts and the needs that we see in our Community and another pathway that we've seen grow as healthcare.
00:10:29 Breanne
We know that there's a need for people in healthcare, right?
00:10:32 Breanne
So we have a a CNA certification program right here on our campus.
00:10:36 Breanne
Kids don't have to travel anywhere.
00:10:37 Breanne
They become CNA.
00:10:38 Breanne
Certified, they then can jump into 100 hour internship which is paid and then they're getting part time jobs. We have about a 60% retention rate on those interns.
00:10:46 Breanne
So after they complete that internship, 60% of them want to stay. Now our employers would like all of them to stay, but that's just not feasible.
00:10:53 Breanne
They have other interests too, and so we encourage that.
00:10:55 Breanne
So, you know, all of those shifts are happening, but we need to remember that kids are never locked into a pathway.
00:11:00 Breanne
We're not saying you have to go into construction or you have to go into healthcare or you have to go into education, but there's just opportunities.
00:11:06 Breanne
Out there and we can let kids explore all of those.
00:11:09 Travis
Well, in that I think what makes Harrisburg unique and really special is that that shift for us in that kind of eye opening, you kind of talked about it.
00:11:16 Travis
Earlier Joanne of you.
00:11:17 Travis
You know, certain kids were in shop class or certain kids were taking backs or certain kids were in the auto shop and that stigma, I think in the last, especially in Harrisburg in the last five to seven years, I think it's gone away because we've opened up so many different opportunities.
00:11:37 Travis
With our business and so if people have been listening, they've, they've heard our story, they've seen the rapid growth of Harrisburg, they've seen the school district growth.
00:11:45 Travis
With that growth has come a lot of different challenges, but one of the challenges that four years ago the district took on was how do we how do we invest in our community?
00:11:54 Travis
All of these bonds that people are helping us pass and build our schools and keep us moving, how do we give back to that and what is that return on investment to Community?
00:12:04 Travis
And that was us saying, OK, what if, what if we opened up our career technical education pathway and created different partnerships with our community members, with our Community businesses?
00:12:14 Travis
And really said OK, how do we partner with you?
00:12:17 Travis
What do you?
00:12:17 Travis
Need and how do we help with that? I mean, we've got a high school of 1600.
00:12:21 Travis
Kids, we should be able to be the workforce development pathway for you.
00:12:26 Travis
What does that look like?
00:12:27 Travis
And so that that then really put us on the path to looking at different things at elementary, at middle school, how does that build to our high school and that's really where Brianne position came in at for us because we needed somebody to help organize that to create.
00:12:41 Travis
That pathway to build those networks and relationships so that every single course that we have in our CTD.
00:12:48 Travis
Apartment has a community partner or has a community champion that we can go to.
00:12:54 Travis
We can get advice about what we're teaching.
00:12:56 Travis
We can get kids out to their site and see what that job looks like or a career looks like.
00:13:02 Travis
And now that's opened up doors for kids, for jobs in internships and different opportunities at four or five.
00:13:08 Travis
Years ago in here.
00:13:09 Travis
But it wasn't a big push for us.
00:13:11 Breanne
But I think it's important to highlight to this is this is epitome of whole child education.
00:13:16 Breanne
This takes kids interests into account.
00:13:18 Breanne
So we want every kid to have a pathway when they leave us.
00:13:21 Breanne
That's our main goal, right?
00:13:22 Breanne
We want kids to grow up and be productive members of society.
00:13:24 Breanne
And CTE helps us by taking that curriculum, those foundational skills, and adding kids interests.
00:13:30 Breanne
And that's where we see those partnerships.
00:13:31 Breanne
And relationships flourish and it builds those networks so that when kids go to a postsecondary program or into an apprenticeship or a work based learning site through an internship, they have those abilities to draw in their foundational skills.
00:13:43 Breanne
But they really jump in and they dive deeper because it connects to an interest that they already have.
00:13:48 Mike
Yeah, Joanne, I think one of the most exciting and rewarding parts of my job is as we see those community partnerships grow, trying to match that with growth within our City department.
00:13:57 Mike
I know you know, for our listeners, anybody that was part of the Harrisburg School District growing up, maybe you know, 20 years ago, there were really 22 areas, right? We had our FFA or AG program and we had.
00:14:08 Mike
Our what they probably knew as homec we now call family and consumer science facts with Mr Marks and Mrs Kern.
00:14:15 Mike
Now, Mrs Kern is still part of our program and she's grown her programming.
00:14:20 Mike
In incredible ways over the last, you know, couple of decades here, Mr Marks recently retired, but we've added so many other programs.
00:14:28 Mike
I know Brian already mentioned our biomedical or our healthcare field.
00:14:32 Mike
We've talked about our education program.
00:14:35 Mike
We have a media production, Tiger vision, right?
00:14:37 Mike
I know a lot of our community members know about the broadcasting that they've done.
00:14:41 Mike
For our events and and maybe I've seen some of the vignettes they've done for our website, but we've added automotive technology, we have our.
00:14:49 Mike
Home Builders Academy, which is our construction program, we have a culinary arts program that has an offshoot school store that they serve and provide alongside our business program.
00:14:58 Mike
And so we've actually gone from what we call two career clusters which are those general fields to 13 now and so.
00:15:06 Mike
Uhm, we've it's been a lot of fun.
00:15:10 Mike
It's been a lot of fun to add staff, to add students, to add programming, and watch how how we've been able to foster that interest in, in ways that I honestly, when I was in school, I could have only dreamed of.
00:15:24 JoAnne
And along with hiring staff and building programs, we have also had the opportunity to.
00:15:31 JoAnne
Create some amazing state-of-the-art facilities here in the district.
00:15:37 Mike
I know I'll use our culinary arts program as an example.
00:15:40 Mike
You know, you think, OK, we're training students to become, you know, future executive chefs to be able to run a nutrition program being conscious of Wellness and and and in good nutrition.
00:15:51 Mike
But if you step into our culinary arts facility, you'll just be in.
00:15:56 Mike
Ah, I mean it is industry grade stainless steel open gas burners.
00:16:03 Mike
Just just an incredible opportunity.
00:16:06 Mike
We bring in an executive chef who's an alum of ours to work with students among other, you know, restaurant and industry partners that have worked with us over the years.
00:16:14 Mike
There's classroom instructional space to go along with that, and our school store has been a a fun project.
00:16:21 Mike
We call it the Roar store.
00:16:22 Mike
And it's really been a collaborative effort amongst all of our city staff to run that operation and provide students with those entrepreneurial experiences.
00:16:31 Mike
And so again, it's just, it's fun to see all of that come to fruition and watch our kids really take ownership and leadership and making those things happen.
00:16:38 Breanne
Yeah, we get industry professionals in here a lot that want to tour our facilities and learn a little bit more about what city is because they do have that old school mindset of vocational or technical education.
00:16:48 Breanne
And you know, they think of the shop class or fax or homec or you know, sewing those types of things, which were wonderful skills and I'm glad we all have them.
00:16:56 Breanne
But when you look at partners like.
00:16:58 Breanne
Jody Subaru Degeest Steel works and those types of things.
00:17:01 Breanne
People come through here and their executives in their field and they walk through and they're like, you have this in a.
00:17:07 Breanne
What's one thing they say to us, Travis, is I wish I had this right.
00:17:10 Breanne
It's the one thing I wish I could have had in a high school.
00:17:13 Breanne
And so even though they are industry leaders right here in our backyard and throughout our community, they are amazed of the facilities that we actually have.
00:17:21 JoAnne
And they are great asset to us as.
00:17:22 Breanne
Well, yeah, we couldn't do this without our partners and you know just everybody that helps sponsor either the purchase of equipment or you know opening their network to us to be able to get corporate pricing and educational pricing on some things.
00:17:33 Breanne
And then just their willingness to help us plan these facilities, figure out what equipment is appropriate, what is a high need item, what things we need first, second, third.
00:17:42 Breanne
And you know the amount of time, effort, energy, talent, treasure that they've given us is, is unmatched.
00:17:49 Travis
Well, and and I think when you talk about the treasures in Harrisburg, one of those treasures that has been from the get go even before we started this shift with Showplace.
00:17:57 Travis
I I mean, they they were invested in our community and in our school district for long before we even made this shift.
00:18:04 Travis
And now they're in the in the phase of asking questions with us of what other opportunities like we need to fill workers on the floor and building cabinets, but do you have interns that are interested in finance, do you have interns?
00:18:18 Travis
Interested in marketing it, I mean they've opened up their doors to us.
00:18:19 Breanne
ITT marketing design.
00:18:23 Travis
So now we've been providing kids opportunities at Showplace that usually gets probably the look of old building cabinets, but now we're putting kids on their business side in their marketing side.
00:18:34 Travis
Which now opens up doors for them.
00:18:35 Travis
And so Showplace is another one of those hidden gems, I think in Harrisburg, where we all know it's there, we all see employees go there, but they're, they're invested in our school district, they're invested in our community.
00:18:47 Travis
And they just, they're always asking the questions, you know, what can we do, how can we get involved more and then we're trying to figure out.
00:18:54 Travis
Where those partnerships align and where does that make the most sense to bring people in?
00:19:00 Breanne
So much of what we do is just asking questions.
00:19:01 Breanne
How can we help you fulfill your, you know, business mission vision?
00:19:05 Breanne
How do you want to?
00:19:05 Breanne
Grow what can you do to help kids?
00:19:08 Breanne
And what can we help you do for your workforce?
00:19:11 Breanne
And that reciprocity between the businesses and the school district has been amazing.
00:19:15 Breanne
And I don't think any of this is possible without those partnerships like Travis said and if we sat here and tried to name.
00:19:20 Breanne
All the partners that we've had just in the four years, it would take hours and hours of.
00:19:21 Mike
We'd be in trouble.
00:19:24 Breanne
Great work and just.
00:19:25 JoAnne
Well, we can put a.
00:19:26 JoAnne
Link on our podcast through that amazing list.
00:19:29 JoAnne
Follow the link below.
00:19:30 Breanne
Yeah, all those good things. So yeah, when you go from a list of 60 to a little over 200 to list all the things we've been able to do in 4 + 5 years, really. Seven years.
00:19:40 Breanne
If you look at the total shift of what the CT department has really become and feel like the middle school programming, the high school programming.
00:19:46 Breanne
The examples of the Roar Store and the Home Builders Academy and the Culinary Arts facility partnerships with postsecondary institutions as well.
00:19:54 Breanne
We need to remember that CTE really puts kids in a position for high demand, high paying jobs.
00:19:59 Breanne
It's not the stigma of it's lesser than, it's not the stigma of I can't do this, so I'm going to go do that.
00:20:06 Breanne
I just was on a job site today.
00:20:08 Breanne
They give us an hour of their time.
00:20:09 Breanne
I asked the question, I said, hey, you know, what are you giving up?
00:20:12 Breanne
And they're like, oh, you know, we just want to really reach out to the community.
00:20:15 Breanne
I said no, no, put a dollar amount on it.
00:20:17 Breanne
And they don't want to do that sometimes, but quite honestly, a little over $1000. So four guys visited with US, 13 kids in the Home Builders Academy.
00:20:25 Breanne
They gave up $1000 and an hours worth of work today to share their passion of their industry, their hardscaping, their landscaping company and when you're talking about 200 plus business partners that are willing to give that.
00:20:37 Breanne
The value that our kids get is amazing.
00:20:40 Mike
And I think I I do think it's important to note the return on investment. These industry partners see that product coming out of our schools where yes, it may have cost $1000 but in return.
00:20:51 Mike
A handful of these kids are going to say, hey, I want to come work for you.
00:20:54 Mike
I remember that experience.
00:20:55 Mike
This is the field I'm interested in and I love what you're doing.
00:20:58 Mike
Can I please have an application to be part of your, your business and they see that and then when our kids show up and and hold true to the reputation that we've had as a, as a, as a school district for so many years.
00:21:11 Mike
Producing students who are going out there and quite honestly, changing the world and they have that impact.
00:21:17 Mike
Then they come back to us again and say what?
00:21:19 Mike
What else can we do, right, like the showplace story that Travis just shared?
00:21:24 Mike
What else can we do?
00:21:25 Mike
How else can we partner?
00:21:27 Travis
And I think the to kind of piggyback on that, that's not possible without the work that you've done Doctor Hamlin with the CT department in the coursework because we're getting kids prepared in these courses.
00:21:41 Travis
To go do.
00:21:41 Travis
Those things and without the intentionality of.
00:21:45 Travis
The right courses.
00:21:47 Travis
Aligned to the right.
00:21:48 Travis
Our kids are then entering those environments with some background knowledge.
00:21:53 Travis
It's not just like, oh, you're part of CTE.
00:21:55 Travis
So now you get to go to well, there brothers.
00:21:57 Travis
No, you're taking a landscape nursery landscaping class in our city department to get a background and then understanding that then takes that interest.
00:22:06 Travis
To a rule.
00:22:08 Travis
On the job training site.
00:22:09 Travis
And so I think that's really again if we go back to like what is CT?
00:22:13 Travis
That's what it is.
00:22:14 Travis
It's learning and then going to apply it in a real environment in in in that career area.
00:22:21 Breanne
And to jump in with that coursework, we need those certifications to go along with that, right?
00:22:24 Breanne
We have the CNA certification.
00:22:26 Breanne
We're looking at other certifications like OSHA certifications in egg and other programs as well ServSafe certifications so kids can go out and work in that culinary arts, hospitality, tourism.
00:22:35 Breanne
Industry with those certifications and possibly even looking at training students that are interested in education at becoming educational assistance through the school district is another opportunity that we can look at down the road.
00:22:46 Breanne
So those certifications have value.
00:22:48 Breanne
They mean things not just here in Sioux Falls, and not just in Harrisburg community, not just in South Dakota, but across the nation and then jumping into.
00:22:55 Breanne
Apprenticeships, what does that look like for us?
00:22:57 Breanne
So all of those things are on the horizon and those bring value and they're transferable.
00:23:02 Breanne
You know, there are things kids take with them just like.
00:23:04 JoAnne
Their diploma.
00:23:05 JoAnne
And they also want to give a shout out to our teachers who are here in the buildings every day supporting our students and working with industry professionals to make all that happen.
00:23:14 JoAnne
They are very passionate about what they do.
00:23:18 JoAnne
They love what they do, they love working with students and we couldn't do what we do without them.
00:23:23 Breanne
Yeah, and those teachers have to be able to adapt and willing to expand their skill sets, right, Doctor Hamlin?
00:23:29 Mike
And and you know we are you're absolutely right join we are so blessed with an incredible teaching staff within our City department across our entire school district to be quite honest but but within our city department you know the number of.
00:23:41 Mike
Of instructors that have industry experience, either that they do out of passion in parallel with their teaching career or you know, we've had, we've had people come out of industry and enter our classrooms and work with kids and and you know when, when, when students hear that and they say, OK, the person who's teaching me how to do this in the classroom.
00:24:01 Mike
They've been there.
00:24:02 Mike
They know what they're doing and we can provide, you know, top notch curriculum and industry grade equipment and we have that passion.
00:24:10 Mike
You know we've talked about our industry partnerships, those are important, but our teaching staff or the the crew that gives them that foundation and and as I mentioned we're just so incredibly blessed because they are so good at what they do and and I'm really grateful for that.
00:24:25 Mike
It makes my job very easy and and quite honestly a lot of fun.
00:24:28 Breanne
Can you talk to the expansion of like the engineering pathway for example, just based on student interest and then finding instructors that can support that?
00:24:35 Mike
Absolutely. Yeah, you know?
00:24:36 Mike
I know we we talk a lot about.
00:24:37 Mike
You know what our career fields that we're not touching on yet based on student interests and and a few years ago, engineering was one of those topics we had.
00:24:44 Mike
You know we had a really strong Tiger robotics program for example which you know again a lot of the listeners, maybe their kids are a part of that it, it runs from 4th grade through 12th grade at students who are interested in engineering, robotics and and and you know you start to look at the career field that's.
00:24:58 Mike
That's a piece of it.
00:24:59 Mike
There's also the, you know, the.
00:25:01 Mike
You know with more civil engineering pathway you have pro computer programming computer, you know like more engineering along those those lines.
00:25:11 Mike
And So what we had to do is first identify individuals that could come in and and really teach those courses with with meaning.
00:25:17 Mike
And so you know we identified curriculum through a company called.
00:25:21 Mike
Project lead the way who's just been an incredible partner and we were able to to bring in a teacher actually two of them from from industry that are that had industry experience that we're very interested in entering the classroom.
00:25:34 Mike
So I think of like Katrina Cruz who's one of our engineering teachers.
00:25:39 Mike
She had a career in industry and really had a passion for sharing her interest with others.
00:25:45 Mike
Went back, got her teaching endorsement and is now part of our team and and not only is she phenomenal in the classroom, but then the network that she brings with her, right the the colleagues that she's had over the years and the.
00:25:59 Mike
The organization she's worked with, she can bring all of that to the classroom, I mean.
00:26:04 Mike
It it it it's.
00:26:06 Mike
Really phenomenal to watch and that that ranges from training on you know again different apps and and technology.
00:26:13 Mike
I know there's a there's a software called Autodesk that anybody listening that's an engineer probably knows what that is because that's what they use in industry.
00:26:20 Mike
Katrina is well versed and she's teaching 9th and 10th graders how to utilize that.
00:26:24 Mike
In fact, we have some of it at our middle school level as well.
00:26:26 Mike
So we have.
00:26:27 Mike
Students who are preteen and barely teenagers that are using the same software that industry engineers are using.
00:26:33 Mike
And she's able to do that.
00:26:36 Mike
She's able to do hands on activities.
00:26:38 Mike
We had students building boats last year and they actually went in through him in the pool at Augustana in the Almond Center and and we have a great video on our website of that as well if you want to check it out.
00:26:47 Mike
So just a really fun example of a program where kids are getting fun experiences, but also really concrete industry experience that's going to.
00:26:56 Mike
Be beneficial in the future.
00:26:57 Travis
Well, in back to the teachers, the growth that I have seen in our team in the City Department has been just incredible and I believe it's because we've been able to get them industry experts alongside.
00:27:09 Travis
With them.
00:27:10 Travis
And so when we think of our career and technical education teachers, a lot of them.
00:27:14 Travis
All took their.
00:27:15 Travis
Got their CT endorsement, went to a four year, got their teaching certificate.
00:27:20 Travis
But now we're connecting them with professionals that they're training for.
00:27:24 Travis
And so now there's a rich dialogue of what are you teaching in your course?
00:27:29 Travis
This is the reality.
00:27:30 Travis
Of what the world is doing, do they match?
00:27:33 Travis
And I think too often schools always were in this box of we're preparing kids for the world, we're preparing kids for the world.
00:27:40 Travis
Are we really are we and can we reflect on that and go the way our business is doing things right now is not how the business world is doing it in in actuality.
00:27:51 Travis
Now let's connect those dots.
00:27:52 Travis
What is that that we need?
00:27:53 Travis
Is it curriculum?
00:27:54 Travis
Is it new ideas?
00:27:56 Travis
Now we can bring those conversations together.
00:27:58 Travis
And so I think I I really do believe that.
00:28:01 Travis
The teachers have really amplified the work of this every day with what they're teaching and what they're providing for kids.
00:28:08 Travis
And now the next step of that was OK, now how?
00:28:11 Travis
Do we reward them?
00:28:12 Travis
We reward them by putting their kids in internships and watching.
00:28:15 Travis
Their kids flourish and blow people's minds because of how many skills they're coming to their their internship with.
00:28:22 JoAnne
And before I'm close here, I just want to talk a little bit about soft skills, which are the skills that are really important to career and technical education teachers.
00:28:31 JoAnne
I think they're important to all of our teachers, but because we are focusing on specific career and technical education skills brand, can you talk a little bit about what soft skills?
00:28:43 JoAnne
Are and how they fit into career technical education.
00:28:47 JoAnne
Mission and going into the workforce.
00:28:49 Breanne
I think soft skills is always defined as those transferable, work related, workplace focused skills.
00:28:55 Breanne
Things like communication, timeliness, being able to manage your calendar, understanding when to follow up with somebody, what's socially acceptable, everything from like what to wear, how to enter a room, notice your air time, are you talking too much or you're talking too?
00:29:09 Breanne
Little it's those things you have to pick up along the way, and you don't get that without some really authentic experiences.
00:29:15 Breanne
So we can simulate those, right?
00:29:17 Breanne
We have mock interviews, so we connect with our Korean technical English.
00:29:20 Breanne
Course which is a course that helps maybe our kids focus that are maybe on that maybe two year path and really dial in and let them do some mock interviews with business and industry partners where they get that authentic feedback and it's in a safe environment here in the building.
00:29:33 Breanne
And then they get to practice those skills before they go out to the workplace.
00:29:38 Breanne
They get to practice, you know, shaking.
00:29:40 Breanne
Somebody hand, which is a skill that we may or may not use anymore.
00:29:44 Breanne
And just really expand upon the foundational skills they learned in curriculum.
00:29:48 Breanne
But those soft skills are huge.
00:29:50 Breanne
We talk about communication.
00:29:51 Breanne
It's probably the number one soft skill for anyone, ever and every single person when we sit down and visit with businesses or like if you could help us help kids communicate, that would be great.
00:30:00 Breanne
That's always our ask.
00:30:02 Breanne
And they say, Yep, absolutely.
00:30:03 Breanne
'cause that's what we need to.
00:30:04 Travis
And it's showing up bigger than ever before.
00:30:06 Travis
I I mean that's the one question when we sit down and ask business and industry like what can we do to help you, they're like can you just help us figure out how to have people show up on time commute or at all communicate with us?
00:30:21 Travis
Just all of those pieces that you and I, we use every day of our life to function.
00:30:26 Travis
Even business and industry are struggling with adults with those.
00:30:30 Travis
And so I think more than ever, our career technical education courses, but even general Ed courses, I mean any course we can really talk about, how to make a plan, how to communicate.
00:30:41 Travis
That plan, how to set those goals.
00:30:44 Travis
Those are things we should be doing with kids every single day in it, day in and day out, no matter if you're in CTE or if you're in the biology classroom.
00:30:52 Travis
It's just, it's one of those things that I think when we make it a focus and an emphasis, then we'll start to see the change and I think.
00:31:01 Travis
Slowly, we're starting to see some of those pieces right here in Harrisburg come together for.
00:31:05 Breanne
Well, we know one of the biggest things for success for kids in the classroom and beyond is high expectations, right?
00:31:09 Breanne
And I think CTE teachers do that really, really well because they know that kids are going to take these skills into the workplace or into a postsecondary program.
00:31:17 Breanne
So that bar is really high.
00:31:18 Breanne
They set super high expectations, but then they help kids meet those with, you know, manageable chunks along the way and all of that.
00:31:25 Breanne
Soft skill development to understanding that I may want you to be able to build this House by the end of the semester.
00:31:31 Breanne
But we're not building our house on day one.
00:31:33 Breanne
We're talking about safety.
00:31:34 Breanne
We're talking about teamwork.
00:31:35 Breanne
We're talking about how to use tools and put tools away.
00:31:38 Breanne
Those are things.
00:31:39 Breanne
Things that teachers and teachers do really well, they scaffold that much like a parent right for a toddler and understanding there's baby steps to a process.
00:31:47 JoAnne
Well, I want to thank all three of you today for coming because I think this has been an amazing conversation.
00:31:53 JoAnne
I feel like it could go on for another hour, but as we wrap up here, can you tell us how people who want to be involved?
00:32:00 JoAnne
But they're both men.
00:32:00 JoAnne
This can can contact us and find out more about these programs.
00:32:07 Breanne
We are always looking for more business and industry partners.
00:32:09 Breanne
If you have a local business, or if you're part of a larger organization and you'd like to get involved, you can always reach out to myself or Travis or Doctor Amelyn on their website.
00:32:17 Breanne
You can go and find our e-mail addresses.
00:32:18 Breanne
You can also check out the CTE page from the high school website.
00:32:21 Breanne
And if you land on the district page, just make sure you click down to high school and then you can look at CTE and Joanne will link that for you.
00:32:30 Travis
And I think we're also open all the time for visit.
00:32:32 Travis
So if you're a business and somebody looking at how do you?
00:32:36 Travis
Get involved with us.
00:32:37 Travis
Come see it.
00:32:38 Travis
Come see it in action.
00:32:39 Travis
It it truly will tell the story for us a lot easier than if we come to you.
00:32:44 Travis
Not that we don't enjoy coming and seeing your business and what you're doing, but if you want to see what kids are doing and how we're training kids to get ready to come.
00:32:52 Travis
To you it's great to set up a visit.
00:32:53 Travis
Come see us, we'll give you a tour of the spaces and and what we have to.
00:32:57 Breanne
Offer here at Harrisburg High School.
00:32:58 Breanne
Probably get some coffee and a cookie too, if you come on the right day.
00:33:02 JoAnne
And you have opportunities not just here at.
00:33:04 Breanne
The high school, yeah.
00:33:05 Breanne
So we have opportunities.
00:33:06 Breanne
Kindergarten all the way through 12th grade.
00:33:08 Breanne
If you want to host an intern, that'd be wonderful.
00:33:10 Breanne
If you want to come into our classroom and be a guest lecturer and an expert, we'd love to have you come in to any level.
00:33:15 Breanne
And then learner Interstate is that unique opportunity where you can spend an hour with 2nd through 5th graders.
00:33:19 Breanne
Can be a little intimidating, I know, but they're fun, I promise.
00:33:22 Breanne
And then students get to choose who they want to spend that hour or 45 minutes with. So we have those opportunities coming up and.
00:33:29 Breanne
If that you have a business or industry or you yourself would like to participate in that, you can send me an e-mail or Joanne will have our contact information below this podcast.
00:33:38 JoAnne
Well, I'd like to thank.
00:33:39 JoAnne
My guests today that this was a great conversation about career and technical education.
00:33:43 JoAnne
Thank you to everyone for joining us today.
00:33:45 Mike
Always a.
00:33:46 Breanne
Pleasure, this is fun. Thanks.
00:33:47 Travis
Joanne, thanks for having us.