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Career Center Newsletter

September 2018

Career CenterNewsletter September 2018

Welcome

Career Center is open for business and is excited to start the new school year. Career Center has set a new attendance record with 400 plus students in attendance. Yes, we are packed.

Career Center is one of 8 designated Career Technical Education programs in the State of Colorado. We offer 9 programs: Culinary Arts, Construction Technologies, Small Engine Repair, Early Childhood Professions, Horticulture, Small Animal Care, Health Care Occupations and IN-STEPS. The School to Work Alliance Program (SWAP) is here to assist students with employment opportunities.

Career Center is a student centered, hands-on projected based learning environment that focuses on the development of soft and hard skill sets needed for the work force of today. We pride ourselves in being… Prepared-Polite-Productive-Professional, as these are the pillars to getting a job and keeping it!

Career Center is the best school in D51 because we believe in Pride through Accomplishment and our students are Rock Stars!

Together we are going to have an excellent year celebrating students and their achievements. Please come along for the journey as we create opportunities to educate the “Whole Person”.


Cam Wyatt

Principal

Career Center

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Horticulture Occupations: A Growing Program

The first few weeks of the Horticulture Occupations class have been engaging, to say the least because of the amazing amount of communication we are developing with each other. The students are learning floral design, greenhouse management, landscape maintenance, and small business operations. We cleaned out our greenhouse so we could install a hydroponic system. As of this week, some of the students have re-potted Aloe Vera plants and are taking care of them as our "children". While the other part of the classroom assembled carts for mobile work/designer stations.


We will have the grand opening of our flower shop on the 12th of September. Our customer service is the best. While customers explain to us how they want their flower arrangement, we will make note of every detail as we take the order with pristine care. We are looking forward to this year and the possibilities that will unfold for us as we grow and learn.

By: G. Husband and J. Gibson.

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Small Engine Repair

Small Engines has many exciting things happening this year. First and foremost, students will be working towards their Briggs and Stratton Master Service Technician certificate. The program is online and they can work on it anytime they have an internet connection. We are going to design, build and race a Formula Student USA car. Students have elected officers and will be competing at Skills USA this year in Colorado Springs. Some students will be attempting to gain their National Career Readiness Certificate. In the meantime, the classes will be organizing and structuring our small engine rental and sales department. Rentals and sales will be open to the public and will provide an income stream for our Formula Student USA race car. The kids are excited and happy to be working in the shop with our reuse and recycle program.

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Early Childhood Profession

The Early Childhood Profession classroom is off to a good start. Although the program has been around forever; we are updating our curriculum to reflect current early childhood trends. We reflect the workplace environment closely. Students will work directly with our district Colorado Preschool classroom four days a week and have a chance to apply that "hands on knowledge" back in the high school classroom once a week. Since this is a pilot program, we are encouraging experimentation as well as creativity within the growth of our preschool children and high school students. Drop by anytime for a tour and see the exciting things that are going on in the ECP world.

Healthcare Occupations

I am so excited to have a wonderful group of students who are so willing to explore different Healthcare Occupations and the fundamentals needed to hopefully start planning an exciting future.

Currently we are going over communication skills, professionalism, infection control, history of medicine and the forever ongoing medical terminology basics. We have some amazing guest speakers lined up and will be doing some creative hands on practice in the lab as well as patient scenario ideas.

Once the basics of patient care are done, we will begin covering anatomy and physiology of the human body. At that time we will be going on different field trips to ancillary departments in various medical fields that correspond with the specific anatomy we are studying at the time. Example would be: the skeletal system – we will be going to a radiology department and learn the different job fields available in radiology.

I am looking forward to a very exciting year of exploration in the medical field with your student and I look forward to meeting you. As always, feel free to contact me via email or phone with any questions or concerns. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your child’s education.

Juli Thomas RRT

Healthcare Occupations Instructor

970-254-6000 ext. 21143

Juli.thomas@d51schools.org

InSTEPS is in full swing! We are riding the bus and taking our Cooking Matters class very seriously. We are also setting up maker’s space to open the InSTEPS Crafted Images Store in late September. ;-)

The SWAP team welcomes our wonderful Career Center students back to campus for the 2018-2019 school year.

Please check out our website, www.gjswap.org for more information about our program and contact information.

We have some great events planned this fall to provide skills to students as they transition from high school to the working world.

On August 30 the local HR representatives from Walmart will be on campus all day to let students know about job openings and do on the spot interviews of those interested in obtaining employment at Walmart stores in our area. They have entry level positions that are open for those 16 years old and older and work around school schedules.

Reynolds Polymer will be present on September 6 to discuss amazing career opportunities with students, this is during limited hours so please contact us if you are interested in having your student visit with them.

In October we will be doing three amazing and beneficial Employment focused mini-conferences which will be held on the Mondays that students are not in school. Students are invited and encouraged to attend; October 15, 22 and 29. 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. These will include local businesses that sit on the SWAP Advisory Board presenting Budgeting, How to Dress for Success and Interview skills. These are definitely going to provide awesome skills to our youth. We will have an RSVP form on our website, spots will fill quickly so please register early.

If you have a business or know of a business that is interested in working with youth 15 to 24 to help them learn good work ethics and skills please let us know.

The SWAP Team

CAREER FAIR and Parent Teacher Conferences at The Career Center on October 22, 2018 from 8 - 4:00

*** ALL HIGH SCHOOLS & STUDENTS INVITED ***

We would like to invite all MCVSD51 High school students to join us on October 22, 2018 from 8-4:00 for a Career Fair. Career Center staff will be here to meet with parents as we celebrate the end of the first quarter.

Students and parents may come throughout the day to get information about the programs that WCCC has to offer. Further, we will provide information about FAFSA, scholarships, and admission to colleges. We will have experts here to support you as you apply for all of these programs online.

It is our goal to help students feel confident in their career & college choice as they move to post secondary options.