Helping Local Schools and an Apprenticeship Program
I recently had the opportunity to participate in the Career & Technical Education (CTE) board meeting at Bradshaw Mountain High School in Prescott Valley. This was an annual meeting that brought together local business leaders and facilty from the area schools to discuss the trends and current progams offered to our high school students.
This was my first introduction to these programs, and I was proud of what I saw. Thanks to the recently passed JTED (Joint Technical Education Disctricts), our schools are offering more in the way of technical training. One of the programs that Bradshaw Mountain offers is Computer Graphics and Web Design Development. This was the program that I participated in.
I had to opportunity to see what the current cirriculum was, and offer suggestions on what was important, what focuses should be and what they should not be. Patricia Agrait has done a great job with this program. It was an interesting and rewarding few hours, and I look forward to next year’s meeting. It will be exciting to see how this program grows!
One thing that I found exciting was simply the fact that the school system is giving our kids a true chance to succeed. By realizing the need to train kids to real-world skills, they are improving many of these students’ chances of success after graduation. I heard about training in the fields of nursing, information technology, video production, web design (of course), and more.
Why is this exciting? Because I graduated from Bradshaw Mt. in 1985 (yes, I’m dating myself). In those days, there was next to nothing as far as practical and direct skill training. That is, unless you wanted a career in woodshop. Not complaining, because that’s just the “way it was.” But TODAY, we see a more logical and practial means of training our students. By this, I mean that this training provides another option to students.
Patricia, as mentioned at the meeting, I would be happy to put together an Apprenticeship program. When your program gets to the point where you have graduates, please let me know! I’d love to be able to take one or two of your best students and further help their careers with some real-world experience.
I feel that this is another way that I can give back to my community. After all, we as business leaders have much power to a build better community. And this would be one small part I can take.
Keep up the good work!
