6 minute read
BEARS in CHARGE
CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION AT BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL
- by Angie Johnson-Schmit for TG Magazine
Humboldt Unified School District’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program does more than teach students the skills needed to get jobs. The program starts off by introducing students to career possibilities they may never have even heard of, and then helps them shape their studies into a plan for a post-graduation future.
“When I first went into college, I had no idea what I wanted to do,” said David Capka, Humboldt Unified School District (HUSD) CTE Director. “I went into business management, got my degree, Bachelor of Business Administration, but couldn’t find a job. I was in sports all through college, so I didn’t have time to work. When I went out looking for jobs in the business arena, I had no experience. So, it was tough finding a job.”
Eventually, Capka found his way into teaching. More importantly, he landed in CTE, the one school program designed to help students navigate that abrupt change from a life of school and sports to entering the work force rapidly and well-prepared.
“Currently, our CTE is mostly in high school. We would like to take it down to the lower level, at the junior high, eventually down to elementary school,” said Capka. “We do have a new grant, so we can spend some funds at the elementary level. It’s for exposing kids to different careers that are out there that they can look into. And then, relate those to what they can do once they get up to the high school level as to what we’re offering.”
HUSD offers eight CTE programs at Bradshaw Mountain High School in Prescott Valley, AZ. “We have our Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program,” said Capka. “We also have Sports Medicine, Digital Communication, Software Development, Network Security, which is basically cybersecurity, which is taught through Yavapai College on our campus. We also have Stagecraft, which is part of the drama program, and Army JROTC.”
The options waiting for those students entering HUSD’s Bradshaw Mountain High School have been growing every year, as have investments in the programs and facilities.
Recently, the Digital Communication program received a $20,000 grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Prescott. The grant allowed HUSD to do a major upgrade of their production studio, where students create, among other things, the campus morning announcements.
“We’ve upgraded with a whisper booth, a lighting grid, new lighting system, and DMX control board,” said instructor Cynthia Perpich. “It’s really exciting for our kids to see where we might be able to integrate a lot more with the athletic department and get some things going with them.”
Capka added, “Also, we’re building a new facility for our Sports Medicine program. About 2,000 square foot classroom/training room, which will be state-of-the-art. It should be ready to go for the 2023 school year. And, within that building, we’re going to upgrade our cybersecurity program and our software development program, that’s two state-of-the-art classrooms for those two programs as well.”
Also, one CTE program may be returning soon. “We’re looking at bringing back Con- struction,” said Capka. “We had it and then the recession hit. Construction’s coming back so we’re looking at bringing back the Construction program. 3-D (printer) Construction is even becoming popular in some areas. We are planning on partnering with Yavapai County Contractors Association and Yavapai College. So, between the three of us, we’ll all partner together for the program.”
Capka suggests parents consider this: “The CTE programs are real life experiences for these kids that exposes them to what they are going to encounter once they leave high school. And that exposure can be invaluable.”
Capka went on to say, “For example, I’ve had kids in the CNA program and they think this is what I want to do with my life: dealing with patients, helping them get better. Then, once they got out there, all of a sudden there’s blood, real blood, and ‘oh, I can’t deal with that.’ So, instead of being out there as an adult having to change careers, they’ve learned as a student that this isn’t their particular career path.”
CTE students learn more than just job skills in Bradshaw Mountain High School’s programs. “They’ve learned some skills that they’ll be able to use with another career because we do teach the soft skills in every program,” said Capka. “Skills like being a member of a team, showing up on time for work, communicating clearly, etc. These are the soft skills kids are going to need and they’re learning those soft skills in our programs.”
For students, the whole process of deciding what program to take begins in freshman computer science class, which is offered to 95% of freshmen. In this class, students and staff create an Educational Career Action Plan (ECAP).
“Our computer science instructors give the students career interest inventory exams to see what kind of interests these kids will have, as well as expose kids to what kind of careers there are out there,” said Capka.
Last fall, Bradshaw Mountain’s Cybersecurity program participated in the National Cyber League competition, which includes a variety of contests from penetration testing to forensic data analysis. The event brings together hundreds of high schools, universities, and independent teams to solve real-world cybersecurity threats.
“It was all online and the kids took first place in the nation for two of the nine categories in that competition,” said Capka. “There was a total of 542 high schools throughout the U.S. in that competition and they finished 18th overall with first place in two of the nine categories. So, we finished in the top 3% of the high schools across the nation.”
Students who completed a CTE program are going on to use skills they first encountered in the classrooms of Bradshaw Mountain. One of Perpich’s recent graduates, Savannah Nugent, landed a prime internship at Arizona State University. “She’s an electronic journalism major and a huge Coyotes fan. Like, hockey is in her blood. If you drew blood, it would come out as a hockey fan,” said Perpich.
“There was an internship program (in the Coyotes publicity department) that they were only offering for juniors and seniors. She went out for it as a freshman, beat out everybody, and got it,” she said.
The school administration understands that students may change their plans over the course of their time in high school. “Of course, that can obviously change. Kids often have different plans by their junior year. But it’s easier to have a plan and change it, than to try to come up with one the day after graduation.”
ARMY JROTC
Photo credit: TG Magazine for Talking Glass Media
