Shaping Futures: Inside Harrisburg's CTE Programs

This episode focuses on Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month, and features detailed discussions about the extensive CTE programs at different educational levels. Dr. Mike Amolins and host Breanne Lynch explore the concept and significance of CTE, emphasizing hands-on, experiential learning across various fields. They cover elementary programs like Learner Interest Day, middle school courses including 'the wheel' of rotating CTE classes, and high school initiatives, highlighting partnerships with community organizations and the real-world impact of these programs. The discussion also includes a segment on student achievements and certificates, emphasizing the district's commitment to practical, skill-based education and community engagement.

CTE Impact Report 2023

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00:00:03 VerMulm 

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. 

00:00:18 Lynch 

Welcome back 412 listeners. It is February and we are celebrating CTE month. I have Dr. Mike Amolins with me today and we are going to give you an overview and update of all of the great CTE things happening in the district. Thanks for joining us. 

00:00:33 Amolins 

Hey, it's great to be here Breanne. Thanks. 

00:00:34 Lynch 

For having me. Alright, so let's start with a hard question. What is CTE? We love acronyms. Help our listeners out. 

00:00:40 Amolins 

Yeah. So CTE stands for career and technical education and I think the important thing to recognize is really the answer is CT is everywhere, right. It's anytime we can make a connection between a career cluster as we call it in the in the field or I mean really any job or career pathway and the learning that's happening both inside of the four. 

00:01:00 Amolins 

School walls and outside and so it's any student experience that involves career exploration as part of the process in a more formal sense, I think, you know, we offer classes at the high school where kids are receiving specific training and and learning skill sets that can foster that process. But we're also getting  kids out into the community doing internships or an apprenticeships and it's it's just a really exciting way of viewing education. 

00:01:25 Lynch 

All right, I think it's a good overview for people that maybe have that outdated understanding of what a CTE program may look like. So, help our listeners out if you were to walk through the halls of Harrisburg High School and into CTE classrooms, what are you seeing and what are learners doing? 

00:01:45 Amolins 

Well, hands on is the term that comes to mind, right? One of the really cool things about CTE is that you know whether I'm in a culinary class, I'm in an automotive technology class, there's always something to do. So kids are up and moving. There's a lot of movement. There's a lot of action. Certainly there are times that we're sitting around the table. 

00:02:05 Amolins 

Collaborating and discussing, but it's a very non traditional educational approach I think and and to be Frank, it's what learning should be right. It's experiential. 

00:02:17 Lynch 

This experiential, so we're going to give our listeners give you a good overview of maybe what's happening throughout the district. So we're going to start at the elementary level. We want to highlight a program called Learner Interest Day. Can you walk us through what a learner interest day looks like? 

00:02:31 Amolins 

Yeah. So you know when you when? 

00:02:33 Amolins 

Kind of stair step, the educational process we're in when we're in elementary, we we really want just a broad swath of experiences, right? We want kids to understand the world around them. We want them to know what's out there. And so a learner interest day is really an opportunity for kids to explore things that they like to do that that are interesting to them. It's not saying, hey, I want to be a doctor, so I'm going to go to a healthcare seminar and and learn you know about what it means to be a nurse, but they do learn what it means to be a Nurse. But they're doing it through through. 

00:03:05 Amolins 

Again, I'm getting that phrase again, but hands on activities, they're getting an opportunity to interact with maybe a Community member or participate in some sort of activity that's themed on a career area. And So what happens at career learner Interest Day is is students select into. 

00:03:22 Amolins 

Activities and opportunities that that will allow them to do that now. 

00:03:27 Amolins 

What's happening behind the scenes is we have brilliant minds such as yourself and and our leadership teams from the elementary schools collaborating and working together, bringing community members and and trying to organize. Essentially, it's almost like a conference or event for for kids to participate in, and it certainly takes a lot of work and I think it's important to acknowledge that. 

00:03:49 Amolins 

But the district, I think sees it as just a great opportunity for kids and something that we want to continue to foster. 

00:03:56 Lynch 

Yeah. So whether we label it Learner Inerest Day or bringing in guest speakers in our elementary building, collaborating, doing some fun innovative programming in our buildings, all of our students have opportunities, whether they're in a specific elementary or not. It just might look different in each building. 

00:04:14 Amolins 

Yeah, absolutely. And and I think that's, that's the I mean that's the. 

00:04:17 Amolins 

Be of education right as we're meeting kids needs where they're at and that's going to look a little different. 

00:04:22 Lynch 

Depending on where we're at, so we're going to jump into later on in our podcast series and episode all about Learner Interest Day. So stay tuned for that and listen to some of our special guests. Let's talk a little bit about the middle school experience. So, we opened East middle school for this academic year. 

00:04:37 Lynch 

And making sure that all students have access to programs. What does career and technical education look like at the middle? 

00:04:44 Amolins 

Yeah. So our CTE classes at the middle school level are part of what we call the wheel. It's a rotation of courses where kids, as they progress through middle school, get more and more voice and choice in the types of classes that they're taking early on in their middle school experience. So 6th grade, we try to make sure that they get exposure to a. 

00:05:04 Amolins 

All of the different areas for career and technical education, and so you know this, this takes place in a variety of classrooms. We have family and consumer science courses, which really are a combination of career exploration, culinary arts. 

00:05:19 Amolins 

Social work, education, those kinds of themes. And so as they progress through 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, they they get an opportunity to experience some of those pieces. We have our what used to be maybe considered like a tech Ed class. We still do that at the 6th grade level, but it really is intended to be more of an engineering and critical thinking. 

00:05:39 Amolins 

Focus. But we we utilize a program called FUSE which then incorporates in the arts and creativity as part of that process as well as kids progress through that program, we actually transition over to a curriculum program called Project Lead. 

00:05:53 Amolins 

The way and project lead the way is is really a flagship organization that that champion CTE in a variety of ways. And so the courses that we offer range from traditional engineering and design thinking class to a robotics course, automation, robotics. We have a what we call medical detectives where kids. 

00:06:15 Amolins 

Get to be super sleuths and investigate different, you know, health conditions and things and why, you know, why is this not working or functioning the way that it. 

00:06:22 Amolins 

Close to and and then we have a flight in space class which has been really really popular the last couple of years. So kids are learning to 3D print, they're prototyping, they're they're getting an opportunity to really dive in. We've also gone in a couple of other different directions and fusing this into some of our other other programs. So we've we've had our AG program over at the middle schools doing what we call in the middle schools and it's more of an enrichment. 

00:06:45 Amolins 

Opportunity where kids are exposed to AG classes or AG education through a mini series of of events and activities. We have a kind of think tank program. We call it exploratory entrepreneurship. And what we've done is essentially blended. 

00:07:02 Amolins 

Current events with design thinking and the only way to describe it is it's really similar to Shark Tank, so you know as the semester or that. Sorry as the terminals on these, I should mention these are quarter long courses to allow kids. Yeah, in in a really short period of time. But what happens is the kids. 

00:07:16 Lynch 

Yeah, it's a ton of information in a short period of time. 

00:07:22 Amolins 

Are really trying to make that connection between. 

00:07:24 Amolins 

And you know their interests, being innovative, trying to solve a real problem in the context of like, what is challenging in your Community, in your state, in your country, in the world, what are the major things that we're trying to solve? And they have to come up with solutions to do that that are relevant to society. And so it's been a really. 

00:07:45 Amolins 

Really cool course so far. We're in year one of that blend. We used to offer current events separate from design thinking, which was of course we called Idea foundry and now we've blended those two worlds to just make it more you know more. 

00:07:59 Amolins 

Relevant to the world that they're living. 

00:08:01 Lynch 

In. Yeah. And talk about relevance, this is where in those specific CTE courses, instructors are able then to reach out to partners in our Community, whether it's a family member friend, they know, nonprofit organization and bring in those experts in those industries and work directly with those kids. So I can think of medical investigation. 

00:08:19 Lynch 

Medical detectives, for example, we partner with SDSU nursing and USF nursing. Those students are coming in practicing vital signs. 

00:08:26 Lynch 

Right alongside with our learners. 

00:08:28 Amolins 

It's a lot of fun. It's been, really. 

00:08:30 Lynch 

Cool to see. You always have to talk about the JA career fair, so that's a huge capstone experience for our 8th graders. So we truly appreciate the support of Junior Achievement, but students are able to prepare, go through some interest inventories and then go out to the wonderful JA Career Fair and explore the 16 occupational career clusters out at the Convention Center. 

00:08:48 Amolins 

Yeah. And I think what's really cool about JA is, is it's really a. 

00:08:53 Amolins 

What I would call a symbiotic relationship. I'm a I'm a science guy, so we'll you. We'll go down that path. But. But you know what's you bring in these members of the community and they're offering something to these students that that they don't get to see every day, right. These people live and breathe their careers. They're passionate, obviously or they wouldn't volunteer for JA and so. 

00:09:13 Amolins 

They get to come into their class and share that with the students and it's a really exciting time for kids to ask questions. 

00:09:18 Amolins 

And try try out. Maybe some new activities and things like that, but mutually beneficial here is the fact that we get to bring members of the Community in to see what our schools look like and how they operate and they really get a chance to to see what is happening in public education. And I think that's a really, really important thing especially at this time in our. 

00:09:38 Amolins 

Our nation's history. 

00:09:38 Lynch 

Is that your plug for JA volunteerism? 

00:09:41 Amolins 

It it is and I would say, you know well and truthfully, whether it's, you know, volunteering for JA or mentoring as. 

00:09:41 Lynch 

Or classroom volunteerism. 

00:09:47 Amolins 

Student, please come and join us because I think there's so many opportunities to see these amazing things that are happening in, in schools that just those stories don't get shared enough. And I don't think you could share them enough. 

00:09:58 Lynch 

Yeah. And we would be remiss to say Jay is a K12 program. We have them in our middle schools specifically, but also in the elementary buildings and the high school working with our personal finance ECON classes as well. 

00:10:12 Lynch 

All right, so let's take a look at high school programming. I think this is where most people probably think of the traditional CTE classes. Thinking of technology and innovation, culinary arts, education and training, agricultural education, what are the new, exciting things happening at the. 

00:10:27 Lynch 

High school. 

00:10:28 Amolins 

Yeah, you know, I I think high school is really where things start to come to fruition. You know, I love our elementary and middle school programs and it really builds towards, you know, a time in Kids's lives in high school where they're really starting to get serious about what they want their next steps to look like. And so our hope with our CTE program is to. 

00:10:47 Amolins 

Help kids, regardless of what pathway they want to go down, right, whether they want to graduate high school and go right into the workforce. 

00:10:53 Amolins 

They want to. 

00:10:55 Amolins 

Partake in an apprenticeship or get some sort of certification or career credential if they want to go get their associates degree. If they want to go to undergraduate or Graduate School, the cool thing about CTE is it's for every single kid. 

00:11:07 Amolins 

And I think that's something that maybe there's a misconception out there like, oh, if I, you know, if I'm going to go take a culinary class, I'm gonna go take an audio visual class. My goal is to go just jump right into that career and you certainly can. 

00:11:19 Amolins 

But what we're trying to do is make sure that kids understand that every single one of them has a place in a CTE classroom and that it's going to be beneficial for them no matter what direction they want to go. And we've been able to make some really, really cool things happen at the high school. I'll just share a couple of examples. So a few years back, we built what we call the. 

00:11:39 Amolins 

Home Builders Academy and that was a a collaboration with the Home Builders Care Foundation, which is a a branch of the home. Excuse me, the Home Builders Association of Sioux Empire. And they, they were just a fabulous partner on that building project and have continued to work. 

00:11:53 Amolins 

With us. But we've had kids build homes for affordable housing solutions that are now, you know, on foundation with a family in Sioux Falls. More recently, one of the really cool things we've gotten to do is partner with veterans, Community project. And so I mean, hopefully our listeners know a little bit about VCP. They've been in the media in Sioux Falls and there are a number of champions supporting them in their process. 

00:12:17 Amolins 

And so we were able to connect with them and just share a little bit about what our program and opportunities. 

00:12:24 Amolins 

Looked like and it was something that VCP had never really done before. You know, I think they came into it thinking ohh gosh, we've got a high school construction class. Can these kids really, you know, what can they do? What? What's their skill set look like? And I think when they got on site and they saw this beautiful facility that we have where kids are building full-sized. 

00:12:44 Amolins 

Houses learning all of these construction and and and and trade skills. 

00:12:50 Amolins 

They knew immediately that that this would be beneficial for the program and so we had kids building tiny homes last year and they're building them again this year. And those are going to go on slab at the Veterans Community Project Village in Sioux Falls, where veterans who have experienced hardships in life or PTSD or substance abuse issues. 

00:13:11 Amolins 

Are getting a second chance at life and so. 

00:13:16 Amolins 

And our kids are helped building those homes. They've been part of some of the events that VCP has put on. And I think the important thing to note there is it's not just about building a house, they're changing somebody's life and they know it and they get that experience as a high school student. And I think that's that's really unique. That's really special. 

00:13:34 Amolins 

A couple of other things that we've been working on at the high school. 

00:13:38 Amolins 

So we recently got a CTE innovative equipment grant from the South Dakota Department of Education and that was really to foster our agriculture, excuse me, our horticulture and landscaping program, which is part of our broader AG program. And one of the cool things that has come from that like visibly is we have a massive. 

00:13:58 Amolins 

Greenhouse, now at the high school. But it's not just an ordinary greenhouse. There are so many really cool, innovative things happening inside you. Go in there and you'll see a farm bot, which is basically a looks like a CNC router, but it's a machine that assists with automated. 

00:14:16 Amolins 

Agriculture. So automotive gardening and it teaches students sustainability. They learn software that they might see if they were part of planting season out on a rural farm operation. We've got a hydroponic system set up. We're raising tilapia and and growing plants. We've got flood tables where they can learn about automated watering. If they were to work in a greenhouse. 

00:14:39 Amolins 

With a greenhouse company someday. 

00:14:42 Amolins 

And those things are all great. We're also teaching traditional growing opportunities. But I think what makes it innovative is the fact that in addition to this beautiful facility we have in this ag program that AG program is partnering with other career areas in the high school and this is really a collaborative effort. So we're growing produce, we're growing herbs and spices. 

00:15:01 Amolins 

That are going to contribute to our culinary arts program. And so our teachers are collaborating between those two programs about, gosh, what should we? 

00:15:08 Amolins 

You know, could we maybe do a farmers market? Could we sell some of that produce or just model what it would be to to do a farmers market? We are incorporating our business program into that conversation. Again if we're looking at doing some sort of a farmers market type of you know marketing campaign or something like that, we're able to collaborate with other districts in the area who also have. 

00:15:32 Amolins 

Greenhouses to try to scale that up and I think it it just it, it has become a a central focal point for collaboration among our students and among our our faculty here. And and it's just. 

00:15:45 Amolins 

It's been a a really, really fun project to be a part. 

00:15:49 Amolins 

Of and I guess the last thing that I would mention this is this I'm going on and on and on here. I'm just so excited. Yeah. Is as many people know, we just opened a freshman Academy facility and freshman Academy is really intended to be an opportunity for kids from all three of our middle schools to. 

00:15:54 Lynch 

There's just so many good things to share. 

00:16:06 Amolins 

Come together and really unify as a class and learn all of those social and academic skills that they really need to be successful in high school. And so the programming there looks different. It's not just, you know, an overflow building where we're putting our 9th graders because they're 9th graders, right? It's it's really trying to get them. 

00:16:26 Amolins 

Started on the best foot forward for their high school career and a big part of that is the career technical education component. We've done a variety of of events over the course of the school year and we'll continue to do so, but one of the biggest challenges has been trying to. 

00:16:42 Amolins 

Copy or or expand our CTE programs into another build. 

00:16:49 Amolins 

Career and technical education is expensive. There's just there's no way around it. Yeah. Yeah. And you want that to be industry grade and you want kids to know really what it means. And so we've had to be really creative, not only about the equipment that we're purchasing, but how to distribute our staff across two buildings. You know, what kind of projects we're working on. 

00:16:51 Lynch 

Has a lot of required equipment and technology. 

00:17:10 Amolins 

And we've we've gotten some support. We actually just recently got a couple of ctso revitalization grants. CTO's are our student organizations that are part of our career and technical program in the state of South Dakota has offered some grant funding to help. 

00:17:26 Amolins 

Foster growth and development of those programs and we've taken advantage of that to make sure that we're getting the word out there to our freshmen about what our programs are and how they can be a part of them. 

00:17:36 Lynch 

Yeah. And those Csos help facilitate programming for Lunar Interest Day at the elementary as well, because sometimes the best way is to teach the next generation, so giving them public speaking skills the ability to plan ahead and just enrich the lives of younger kids too. 

00:17:50 Amolins 

Absolutely. And you know I'm, I'm the father of two elementary age kids in the Harrisburg School District and. 

00:17:55 Amolins 

I know you know, when they had their learner interest day last year when they came home and I said, hey, we don't. What did you do today? And I knew, you know, they didn't know that I knew I didn't. Well, and I eventually heard about all these cool activities. They got to do. But the first thing they mentioned were the high schoolers. Right. And those are the older kids. And they're so cool. And so yeah, definitely enhances that learning. 

00:18:03 Lynch 

You got the insides. 

00:18:10 Lynch 

Yeah, because they're cool. 

00:18:15 Amolins 

Experience for the kids. It just increases engagement and then of course, obviously the learning opportunity happens and it's a wonderful thing. 

00:18:22 Lynch 

Yeah, throughout our podcast series, we're going to continue to highlight some of the success stories and the development of our registered youth apprenticeship and apprenticeships across the state of South Dakota. We have to talk about our partners before we wrap up this episode. So how have business and? 

00:18:38 Lynch 

Partners served the district in career and technical education. 

00:18:41 Amolins 

Yeah. And I'm really glad you brought that up, Brianne. I think you know, we could not function without our community partners the way that we. 

00:18:49 Amolins 

I I don't know if we're entirely unique in our district. I know many districts out there, partner with community members. I think where we are unique is the fact that we've invested in staff members who their their job is to purely engage with Community partnerships and make sure that we're fostering those relationships and then create these beautiful. 

00:19:08 Amolins 

Projects that we've discussed today, these everything that we've talked about today could not happen without those community partners and you know we have. I mean, I think we've, you know, literally hundreds of businesses and organizations have reached out in different capacities whether that is. 

00:19:22 Amolins 

As you know, something as straightforward as joining us for a day in the classroom and maybe sharing a little bit about their business or organization partnering on projects that that are ongoing, that students can be a part of or you know providing an internship opportunity, a scholarship, things like that, partnering on a grant application and being part of that. 

00:19:45 Amolins 

And so, you know, I think you'll hear a lot about that throughout this podcast series. I would like to just share maybe one recent event, so. 

00:19:54 Amolins 

Miss Deb Rombough is our our culinary arts teacher and she is always thinking outside of the box with you. Of course, the two of you thinking about projects that that would make for a really unique experience that are authentic. And so you know, people from the Sioux Falls community maybe are familiar with the downtown burger battle. 

00:20:13 Amolins 

And so uhm. 

00:20:16 Amolins 

But one of the executive chefs from Crave reached out and had this brilliant idea of bringing in Harrisburg's culinary arts program in the Sioux Falls CT academies Culinary Arts program to do their own version of a burger battle, and they brought their team out for a few days at the high school. The kids got an opportunity to invent their own burger. 

00:20:41 Amolins 

And get coaching from from, you know, executive chefs from the area that could really talk about their experience and what that means and how you scale up and how you take a prototype or a design concept and really make that a gourmet. 

00:20:54 Amolins 

Option on a menu and our kids just had a blast. I know when I was down there, it was so cool to see them interact to get their creations judged by a panel of actual chefs from the area, which was nerve wracking for some of them. And then to see. Yeah, just a little. But then to see, you know, a winner emerge from that. 

00:21:09 Lynch 

Just a little. 

00:21:14 Amolins 

Who now is going to have their burger on the menu at crave in the month of February? Wow. 

00:21:18 Lynch 

So, for all of you people that need an excuse to go out to dinner. 

00:21:22 Lynch 

Go down to crave and have the Harrisburg Champions Burger in the month of February to continue the Burger battle beyond January. 

00:21:30 Amolins 

Awesome. Yeah, it's it's, it's amazing. And you know, it'd be a great story to be able to talk about that and and say, wow, we did this really cool event activity. But these stories are happening all the time. And like I said, I think it's important to share them, but but we have. 

00:21:47 Amolins 

Of activities going on like this constantly that just amazes me. I can't imagine in my own high school experience having had those opportunities. 

00:21:55 Lynch 

Yeah. Our partners are amazing. We we have to mention the Harrisburg Chamber and all the Members that are part of that organization that support US day in and day out. Our our partnership with Stanford Health, who really was the first early adopter of the high school internship program. And then Weller Brothers who was willing to come along and really jump into that registered Youth Apprenticeship program as well. 

00:22:15 Lynch 

There are many, many, many partners that support us every single day, and we just appreciate all that you've done to support not just career technical education, but just learning in the district as well. 

00:22:24 Amolins 

Yeah. No, we're very fortunate. And and I can't say enough how much we appreciate the the work that all of these these partners have done and how they help foster education for our. 

00:22:34 Lynch 

Kids. Alright, so let's do a little bit of by the numbers. You're a data guy, so I've got some numbers for you. So I have the top three concentration areas by cluster for Harrisburg High School students in CT. 

00:22:46 Lynch 

So there's 233 learners that concentrated in which area? That's our highest number of concentrators. What do you think it is? You may know because you have some inside scoop on the data, but. 

00:22:57 Amolins 

Yeah. Well, I'm gonna maybe play dumb a little bit, but I think I'll be able to get this. So AG education would probably be. 

00:23:05 Lynch 

You're close. Agis #2. 

00:23:06 Amolins 

Ohh, it's healthcare. It's our Health Sciences. 

00:23:09 Lynch 

It's Human Services, really. So, 233 concentrators and Human Services. And this is 22-23 data.  

00:23:17 Amolins 

I should know this too, so I'm kind of embarrassed, yeah. 

00:23:19 Lynch 

That's OK. Second, you're right. Is egg agriculture, food and natural resources 183 concentrators. 

00:23:26 Lynch 

And #3 is hospitality and tourism, which is our culinary arts department. So that's 109 concentrators, so 623 total CTE concentrators at Harrisburg High School. And I just want to bring that up. Sometimes people are like, what's a concentrator? Why does that matter? So you want to explain to them what a concentrator is and why we pull that? 

00:23:34 

And maybe. 

00:23:42 Amolins 

Yeah, I was. 

00:23:42 Amolins 

Going to say we should define that right? 

00:23:46 Lynch 

Number forward. 

00:23:47 Amolins 

Yeah. So I won't get into all the the nitty gritty on this, but concentrators in the CTE world are those students who have really found a career cluster or career career area that they're very interested in, and they've taken multiple classes in that. 

00:23:59 Amolins 

Area and so you know, if I if I dabble in different courses, if I take a culinary course, if I take a AG course. If I take a Health Science course, that's great. But that doesn't make me a concentrator. You have to take multiple courses in that pathway in order to qualify. And So what we're really looking at is what are the areas that students are interested in long term? 

00:24:20 Amolins 

These numbers do fluctuate from year to year, so I'm gonna give myself. 

00:24:23 Amolins 

Some grace on my guess. 

00:24:23 Lynch 

They do. 

00:24:26 Amolins 

But yeah, I'm not either. Yeah. 

00:24:26 Lynch 

But I'm not surprised that those areas are in the top three there. Also I I foresee if I had to do some forecasting data for for this school year, I could see education and training bumping up in that area and Health Science as well. It just kind of depends on you know, that PLTW sequence. I'm sure where they kind of fall if they land in that concentrator bubble or not. 

00:24:44 Amolins 

Yep, absolutely. 

00:24:46 Lynch 

OK, here's a number for you too. How many certificates or certifications were earned in total by seniors in the areas of OSHA? 10 CNA, BLS, EMT, CPR, ServSafe, and then residential general construction and also work. 

00:25:06 Lynch 

The Certificate of Work Ethic, Proficiency through the internship program. 

00:25:10 Amolins 

But that's a lot and I'm trying to do the math quickly in my head. 

00:25:15 Lynch 

So just seniors. So keep in mind other students could have earned some of these certificates, but we're focusing on just 20. 

00:25:21 Lynch 

223 seniors. 

00:25:23 Amolins 

Let's let's do higher. Lower. We're in the hundreds, I'm assuming. OK. 

00:25:27 Lynch 

Yep, you're in the. 

00:25:30 Amolins 

Just senior. So the graduating class was around 400, I think it was the last one under 400. 

00:25:37 Lynch 

Close real close to that 400. 

00:25:39 Amolins 

So we are probably talking about half of those kids, I bet maybe maybe a little less than that. Let's say let's say 100 and. 

00:25:50 Lynch 

20 pretty good. 

00:25:52 Lynch 

So 138 certifications or certificates were earned by seniors, so percentage wise, I mean you're you're getting close to 30%. 

00:25:59 Amolins 

Yeah. And that's really pretty incredible. If you think about it. I mean, these kids are leaving our our high school with credentials in hand that they can apply directly to a a career field now. I mean imagine, you know, I think of the kid who's maybe thinking about going to undergraduate, being a biology major pre Med and is coming in with a CPR certification or a CNA. 

00:26:21 Amolins 

I mean, Can you imagine going and and while you're going to to college working as a CNA and gaining that foundational experience and then going on to Med school, what an incredible opportunity. 

00:26:32 Lynch 

Yeah. And then I think the final thing I want to highlight is just the ability for community service and volunteer efforts through our CTS O's. And so a couple of things that we shared in our CTE impact report, which we can link below here in the show notes to just give you access to all this data and information as well as a link to our eight part podcast from last year CT Month. 

00:26:51 Lynch 

Operation we have the CTE roar store give back where we find a business and community partner that will do a matching funds day for an organization and needs. So that's sponsored by DECA and Pro Start Educators, rising mentorship partnerships with our young students in the elementary as well as being able then to go be a mentor in a classroom. FA focuses on meals for egg workers. 

00:27:12 Lynch 

During harvest time, which is fantastic. Also, Fccla, who has spearheaded with the HSD counseling department, the Angel Tree Project. 

00:27:20 Lynch 

Pro star in optimist giving and helping bake pies for their philanthropic efforts and then host with project warm up, making tie blankets for those in need in our community. So not only just learning those hands on skills, being immersed in curriculum, but also having the opportunity to give back and really be part of the community. 

00:27:38 Amolins 

Yeah. And that's really incredible. 

00:27:40 Amolins 

You know, you think about servant leadership being something that we really value here in the Harrisburg School District and just, I mean, how many wonderful opportunities you just named? 

00:27:49 Amolins 

Among obviously, you know all of our programs at the high school where we're doing those types of activities, but I think CTSOs specifically really, really value that aspect of their programs and and give kids a lot of opportunities to get out there and do service in the community so. 

00:28:04 Lynch 

Any final thoughts for people? Any encouragement to listen to the rest of our episodes? 

00:28:09 Amolins 

Yeah, no. Obviously you got to hear the whole series. I think we're gonna have a lot of really exciting things if if any of the topics today were of interest to you and you want to learn more, either you know, listen to the rest of the podcast series, of course. But just would invite people to reach out anytime and ask questions and see what it is that we're doing here, because there are a lot of wonderful things happening at Harrisburg High School. Well, I mean, really at all levels in the Harrisburg School district. 

00:28:31 Amolins 

And so I think it's important to just celebrate those things and and make sure that we, we're all informed about them. 

00:28:38 Lynch 

Well, thanks 412 listeners for tuning in and being excited with us as we celebrate another CTE month here in the Harrisburg School District. We hope you check out our episodes on Learner Interest Day. The growth of apprenticeship in the state of South Dakota and registered youth apprenticeship. And take a look at our four part series of different success stories from former interns. 

00:28:58 Lynch 

And current apprentices and students enrolled in some really amazing programs in and around our state. 

00:29:03 Lynch 

Until next time, this is BreanneLynch, your CTE podcast host.