Photo by Bobby Mathews.
Helena High School senior Jake Scroggins checks out the underside of a car during an auto tech class at the Shelby County Career and Technical Center.
Madison Halvorson is a prime example of the new generation of students being produced by Shelby County’s Career and Technical Education programs.
The Calera High School senior graduated in May 2019 and is already enrolled in the nursing program at UAB. When she completes her bachelor’s degree, she’ll be a registered nurse and ready to begin her path in one of the fastest-growing careers in the United States.
“Originally, I wanted to go into pharmacy,” Halvorson said, “but I didn’t like chemistry. And I wanted to travel, so when I talked with my mom, she said two options could be a flight attendant or a traveling nurse.”
She jumped into the healthcare sciences program at the Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) and found that nursing was the career she wanted.
“One of the things that’s really good about a program like this one is that we can teach these students about what their options are, and educate them on the different paths they can take to create a successful career,” said Marcy Campbell, a registered nurse who teaches healthcare sciences at CTEC. “Career and technical programs like these are where theory becomes relevant and students gain practical experience.”
But get something straight: this isn’t an old-fashioned vocational or technical program.
Shelby County Schools have embraced the down-to- earth work of trying to help students find suitable and engaging careers through programs like Ready to Work and Career Clusters.
Career Clusters is designed to find a student’s interest and then guide them through a set of classes. For example: If a student is interested pursuing architecture, a cluster of classes might take the student through courses like carpentry, building construction, plumbing, welding and drafting design.
The end goal is to have a student who is prepared to take the next step after high school, whether that means a two-year college, a four-year university or jumping straight into the workforce.
“Too many times we see students enter a four-year school without any training or purpose,” said Julie Godfrey, the Career and Technical Education supervisor for Shelby County Schools. “We want to set our students up to succeed, regardless of the next step they choose.”
Shelby County Schools uses a model of career and technical education that reaches students early in their high school careers. Students across the school system take a career preparedness course in their freshman or sophomore year, as well as a course in financial literacy. And while English, math and science still play a key role in the lives of students, the career and technical programs are taken seriously, too.
“These programs are much more technical, rigorous, relevant and aligned with business and industry standards for the workforce of tomorrow,” Godfrey said. “More than ever, we’re realizing how important it is to prepare our kids to be productive parts of the workforce. Our career and technical programs actually touch every student in the school system at some point.”
In the 2017-18 academic year, 6,403 students across the school system participated in one of the 56 career and technical programs in Shelby County Schools.
“My job is to prepare these kids for employment in the real world,” said Robert Irwin, who teaches automotive tech. “Students who come in here learn that it isn’t easy. I don’t grade like a typical teacher, because if I’m recommending someone for a job, it’s my reputation on the line.”
And Irwin’s recommendations hold weight. He’s in his fourth year teaching at CTEC, and for two years straight, he’s had the highest number of student employment placements in the state.
“These types of programs have definitely evolved,” Godfrey said. “We do still teach things that would qualify as skilled labor, but we also have programs like health sciences, biomedical studies, robotics and engineering.”
James Hill, the robotics and manufacturing instructor at CTEC, said the bottom line for programs like these comes down to opportunity. Educating students about what they can accomplish, no matter their next step, is the goal for each program.
“It’s about how you prepare the students,” Hill said.
“As technology gets cheaper and you see more robotics take over, I still see lots of opportunity in manufacturing in our area,” he said. “Even with the shift to automation that we’ve seen speed up over the last 15 years or so, there will always be a need for well-prepared employees.”
