Since last year, students of agriculture teacher Trisha Smith have collaborated with Ever Fresh Fruit Company, a local business that produces flavoring for the dairy industry. Smith assigned her food science students a research and development project which challenged them to create a product from development, packaging, nutritional data and marketing. To better understand the process, students met with the Ever Fresh research and development team.

“The entire food science industry is experiencing a severe shortage of talent,” says Kurt McKnight, Ever Fresh CEO. He added that schools are not “turning out the number of trained, capable people to fulfill family-wage jobs, from chemistry to welding.”

McKnight said he can help shape the district’s CTE programs to address a labor shortage and connect graduates to local, living wage jobs in the community. Sandy High School’s CTE programs also have forged partnerships with Trillium Machine, Suburban Auto Group and Les Schwab. Students gain real-world experience and some are offered jobs after they graduate. CTE programs continually seek new community partners to offer students real-world experience. Manufacturing students can apply for an internship with Boeing. The district is growing a robust four-year automotive program with Ford ASSET (Automotive Student Service Educational Training) at Mount Hood Community College.

“We were standing in a welding class at Mount Hood Community College, and a student turned to me and said: ‘Now I understand why algebra is important.’ That’s the connection we’re looking for.”

The Oregon Trail School District community values CTE. When the district asked the community for money to build Sandy High School, the community had its own request: build a robust CTE program. The district delivered. Sandy High School’s CTE facilities include an auto shop, an agriculture lab and greenhouse, an engineering lab, a health sciences lab, a manufacturing shop for welding and machining, a video production studio and two additional CTE computer labs.

Hands-on learning

Student enrollment in CTE programs continues to grow. One factor is the rising cost of a four-year degree that has driven budget-savvy students to gain technical skills through high school and community college CTE programs. Another factor in growth is that the hands-on experiences and real-world applications of CTE classes resonate with students. In the most popular CTE programs in Clackamas County—including engineering, computer science, culinary, broadcast journalism and social media—students are creating a product, whether it’s a bridge, computer code, a cake or a video.

Ladine Marquardt, assistant principal at Sandy High School, recalled the moment a student connected the dots between school and real-life application. The incoming freshman was enrolled in a summer program geared for students with low academic performance. It immerses students in career exploration as they are transitioning into high school.

Marquardt explained: “We were standing in a welding class at Mount Hood Community College, and a student turned to me and said: ‘Now I understand why algebra is important.’ That’s the connection we’re looking for.”

Growing CTE programs

School districts in Clackamas County offer programs in the six CTE career clusters determined by the federal and state government: agriculture, food and natural resources; arts, information and communication; business and management; health sciences; human resources, and industrial and engineering services. Districts continually consider new programs that will interest students and provide up-to-date industry skills.

The momentum of Clackamas County school districts increasing their CTE offerings has put them ahead of the trend. Next school year, Sandy High School plans to offer Food and You, a new food science elective, which can fulfill a science credit. Its new digital design program is in progress. These courses are the result of a school board mandate from the Oregon Trail School District to grow its CTE programs.

Each CTE program should have an advisory board of industry leaders and must be aligned with a post-secondary program. In Clackamas County, most CTE programs are aligned with Clackamas Community College. Because of its proximity to Mt. Hood Community College, Sandy High School’s new computer science program is aligned with MHCC. Its engineering program is aligned with MHCC as well as Oregon Institute of Technology.

CTE programs throughout the county are supported by Clackamas Career and Technical Education Consortium, consisting of high schools, Clackamas Community College and other partners committed to creating high quality pathways from education to the workforce. C-TEC builds partnerships, collaboration, innovation and leveraged resources. Recently hundreds of CTE students gathered at Clackamas Community College to participate in the consortium’s Clackamas Regional Skills Competition in which students competed to win CCC tuition vouchers.

“There’s an effort to ensure we’re offering high quality programs,” says Sarah Dorn, regional coordinator, Clackamas Career and Technical Education Consortium. “There’s a continued effort to ensure our programs are aligned to what’s going on in industry.”

Expanding CTE programs is a focus at the state level, too. In 2016, Oregon voters approved Measure 98, or High School Success, which provides money for districts to increase high school graduation rates by establishing or expanding CTE programs, establishing or expanding college-level opportunities and establishing or expanding dropout prevention strategies. The first funds from this initiative were distributed to school districts for the 2017-18 school year.

That emphasis on CTE programs and hands-on training was reiterated by Governor Kate Brown, who unveiled a new program, Future Ready Oregon, during her 2018 State of the State address. She proposes to spend $300 million toward CTE classes in the 2019-21 state budget to make hands-on learning programs available in every school district.

Marquardt of Sandy High School summarized the goal of CTE programs: “How are we going to improve opportunities for our students? How do we help students arrive at a future that they deserve?”

CTE Programs in Clackamas County

  • Clackamas Career and Technical Education Consortium (C-TEC): To learn more visit: www.clackamascareers.com
  • Canby High School: Agriculture, graphic design, accounting, marketing, early learning, construction and manufacturing. Contact Greg Dinse, principal, 503-263-7200 ext. 5303
  • Colton High School: Agriculture and manufacturing. Estacada offers journalism (a start-up program), accounting, culinary (start-up program), business management, automotive and manufacturing. Contact Tori Hazelton, principal, 503-824-2311
  • Gladstone High School: Graphic design, business and management and engineering. Contact Kevin Taylor, principal, 503-655-2544
  • Lake Oswego High School: Engineering. Contact Brian Crawford, assistant principal, 503-534-2313
    Molalla High School: Agriculture, graphic design, business management and manufacturing. Contact Brad Berzinski, principal, 503-759-7301
  • Oregon City High School: Textiles and design, accounting, culinary, marketing, office systems and construction. Contact: Toby Futch, associate principal, 503-785-8734
  • Sabin-Schellenberg Professional Technical Center: Agriculture, forestry, digital design, broadcasting and social media, computer programming (in progress), culinary arts, business and management, sport and entertainment marketing, health services, cosmetology, early learning, fire science, law enforcement, manufacturing engineering, architecture, electronics, automotive. Contact Karen Phillips, principal, 503-353-5941
  • Sandy High School: Agriculture, digital design (in progress), health sciences, automotive, engineering and manufacturing. Contact Ladine Marquardt, assistant principal, 503-668-8011 ext. 7122
  • West Linn High School: Journalism, web design and engineering (start-up program). Contact Anya Hershberger, assistant principal, 503-673-7804
  • Wilsonville High School: Graphic design and drafting. Contact Tate Olsen, assistant principal, 503-673-7633