CTEs offer pathways for high schoolers, adults seeking career changes

Having just opened in January, the Woody Williams Center for Advanced Learning and Careers is the new name and home of the Cabell County Career Technology Center. Principal Melissa Ash said this year, there were more than 650 applications, and 500 students were brought in to be interviewed.

“Last year, we only interviewed about 330 students, so we’ve increased our interview process and getting kids in here to interview for programs they’re interested in,” Ash said.

The new space, the former Sears building at the Huntington Mall, is larger and complete with more up-to-date material and equipment, and all the programs offered at CCCTC relocated there.

“Now we’re expanding into new programs and looking to expand the opportunities for students in other programs,” Ash said. “One that we are really pushing hard to get started is plumbing. We also want to expand into cosmetology and add barbering.”

High school courses for 9-12 grade include auto mechanics, building maintenance, carpentry, design, collision repair, culinary arts, graphic design, health sciences, law and public safety, welding, machine tool trades and more. Recent grads have gotten jobs at regional businesses like Nucor and Best Virginia, Ash said.

Adult programs consist of automotive technology, electrical technician, medical assisting, welding, HVAC and practical nursing. Ash said the Woody Williams Center is also a great resource for adults needing jobs or seeking a career change. The LPN program has had a 100% pass rate for the last two years, and the nighttime automotive class works with Moses Auto Group, placing students in weekend internships.

“We’ve got plenty of trades and opportunities where we can hook up with businesses,” Ash said. “These are adult students working side by side with car technicians at Moses, and the goal is to get a job when they have an opening.”

Changing attitudes

Ash said the CCCTC has grown each year, and something she’s noticed alongside that growth is a shift in attitude towards CTEs.

“It used to be like a negative connotation to the conversation; now we’ve seen a shift into a positive connotation,” she said. “It’s a positive, ‘Oh, you’re going to the Williams Center,’ which is really great, because we need skilled trades in our community and everywhere. I like the idea of the community buying into that and seeing the positive that we can produce.”

Pursuing four-year degrees at a college or university is a great option for some, but not everyone, Ash said.

“I think changing the mindset of what the career center is and what the trades do for people is very positive,” she said. “I have students after four years with two certifications in two different fields and some three, depending on what the programs they choose, and they walk right into a job. We have a large number of students that get a job before they’re even ready to graduate.”

For more information

Ash said potential applicants may reach out via phone or email, and most of the adult programs will start at the beginning of July. Applicants are asked to have a resume, and Ash said they do look at grades and attendance records for high schoolers.

A grand opening for the school is in the works, tentatively set for early May.

“The idea of what we’ve done here is just amazing,” Ash said. “It also gives us the hope to expand, to increase, to make opportunities for high school students and the community.”

Recruiting efforts ramp up in Kanawha

This year, Kanawha County’s two career centers began recruiting at all eight county high schools. In the past, the Ben Franklin Career Center and Carver Career and Technical Education Center would take students from four high schools each, according to Lisa Dorsey, principal at Carver.

“With the push for school of choice, letting people have all different options with education, we decided we were going to open up our two tech centers to all eight of our feeder schools, just so we’re being competitive and relevant with the trends that are happening in education,” Dorsey said.

That push in recruiting efforts has also resulted in an increase in interest from students. Instructors and current students visit all county high schools, talking with potential students and providing information about the centers, according to Jenny Ruddle, associate principal at Ben Franklin.

“This year, we came together and recruited at all eight high schools for both career centers,” Ruddle said. “We have gone into each high school and done a road show, in which all of our programs are on display.”

Thanks to more visibility with successful graduates, Ben Franklin’s industrial wing is seeing a rise in students, and recent community partnerships, such as with WVU Medicine and the Charleston Area Medical Center to provide paid internships, are another factor in more applications, Ruddle said.

“We always see a lot of applications for our medical programs,” she said.

One-year high school programs at Ben Franklin include animal systems, early childhood education, law and public safety, entrepreneurship, pet grooming, power equipment systems and much more, while two-year programs include automotive technology, manufacturing, carpentry, medical assisting and more.

Some adult programs at Ben Franklin are commercial driving, welding, phlebotomy tech, electrical and HVAC. Ruddle said more and more adults in their early 20s are enrolling.

“I think students are finally seeing other people have that profession, and they’re seeing how it could apply to them,” Ruddle said. “You can tell that there’s even a post-secondary interest, which has been really awesome.”

Opportunities for post-graduate education

Ruddle said the push in recent years for CTEs is another factor in increased enrollment and completion rates.

“With this next group that’s coming through, I think when they are talking to past students and older friends and family members, they’re finally starting to see the results of other people going through a technical center, and I think that that’s helping the interest come around,” she said.

On the other hand, Ruddle said, CTEs can also be used as a prerequisite for college.

“We don’t always want to just make it seem like you go directly into the workforce, but a lot of our medical students go on to nursing school at a higher education,” Ruddle said. “There are opportunities that I think are starting to be shared more, and that’s piquing interest.”

At Carver Career Center, Dorsey said they have had no trouble filling their programs to capacity in the past few years.

“We’re pretty steady with our enrollment, and we do well with our program numbers,” Dorsey said.

Programs include advanced medical preparedness, baking and pastry, graphic design, marketing, nail tech, natural resource management, plumbing, ProStart restaurant management, sports medicine, therapeutic services and welding. Electrical, surgical tech, culinary, cosmetology and esthetics programs are some of the most popular at Carver.

With steady growth comes opportunities for new programs to be offered. Massage therapy and early childhood classroom assistant teaching were introduced in the past two years and see growth each semester.

The focus at Carver is ensuring students are college- or career-ready, even if it means they change their mind or pursue other paths going forward, Dorsey said.

“It’s a good opportunity for high school students to take a program for free and decide if they want to go further in that, or if they just want to get a job, it prepares them for a job with free training,” she said. “If they decide they don’t like it, then they’ve not gone to a two-year or four-year program and decided they didn’t want to go into that field.”

CTEs like Carver offer a short turnaround for a job-ready certificate, making it a viable option for adults, Dorsey said.

“We actually get a lot of students that have completed a two-year or four-year degree program and were unable to get jobs, and they come to us and are able to get a short turnaround in a certificate that gets them job ready,” she said. “Sometimes people decide they want a career change, and it’s a quick way for them to get the training to get into a career.”

Bringing in the community to include a real-world element is an important aspect at Carver, Dorsey said.

“I think people don’t realize how many programs we offer,” Dorsey said. “We have about 20 secondary programs and nine adult programs. It’s like a small community here.

“We run like a small village, and we do have clients that come in and take part of our services,” she continued. “People can come in and pay for massages, esthetic work, cosmetology work, pet grooming, to have their car worked on and book catering for an event at their house. These are all things that we do. We like having customers come in.”

Admission information

Kanawha centers are currently enrolling adult programs that will begin in the summer and high school classes for the fall. The application process includes interviews, and adult applicants must take a basic entrance exam geared toward English and math skills. For high school students, staff look at past grades, attendance and discipline, though it does not necessarily deter an application, Ruddle said.

“Attendance is a big one, because a lot of our programs do go out into the workforce for paid opportunities like internships; the first thing an employer is going to ask about is attendance,” Ruddle said.

“For our high school programs, we check discipline, grade point average, if they’re missing any credits,” Dorsey said. “Our goal is always to get our kids to get their high school diploma.”