Career and Technical Education Month is a Success

CREST HAVEN – Cape May County Technical School District held its Feb. 25 board meeting to address a variety of topics and issues, including revenues and expenses, curriculum, legislation and policy, bids and contracts, and the presentation of several administrative reports.
The board also approved a field trip to the Brick Mason Institute for a Skills USA contest, and a trip to Rowan University for an engineering design competition. The administrative reports revealed and affirmed that February is CTE month – Career and Technical Education month.
Superintendent Dr. Nancy Hudanich said “CTE month is celebrated the month of February. In fact we (N.J. County Council of Vocational Technical Schools) are looking forward to being recognized on the floor of the Assembly (Feb. 27) when the Legislature approves a ceremonial resolution celebrating CTE month.”
Director of Curriculum and Instruction Nancy Wheeler Driscoll maintained that a career in technical education prepares students for “careers, and not merely jobs.” Driscoll stated that CTE is “about becoming a lifelong learner,” and it is “about tomorrow and creating a global workforce.”
Driscoll said “adult students celebrated CTE month as well. The district’s Post-Secondary Institute, providing technical training and opportunities for certification and college credit to adults who have completed high school featured a number of activities for CTE month.
“The Dental Assisting program hosted field trips from area elementary students who visited the district’s state-of-the-art dental lab. Preschoolers participated in dental hygiene lessons and activities to reduce fear of the many new experiences they might encounter at the dentist office,” she explained.
“Practical nursing students in the post-secondary school conducted teaching sessions for healthy choices as adults visited area elementary-age students. The various teaching lessons included learning activities and review games in engaging instruction.
Post-secondary adults in the Cosmetology program practiced services on volunteer patrons, and then opened the salon, offering evening salon services to the public,” Driscoll added.
“The high school activities featured during CTE month were as numerous as the days in February. The featured activities represented key connections to real-world applications… the activities ranged from guest speakers demonstrating manicures to incubating and hatching chickens to opening a restaurant or competing in CTE championships,” stated Driscoll.
“The art history classes collaborated with the Masonry CTE program and the Advertising Design/Commercial Art CTE program on a cross – curricular project in which students researched the Early Roman and Byzantine period, created an original digital design for a mosaic, and then partnered with Masonry for the interdisciplinary concepts and skills to transfer the drawing to a hand- drawn template on wood while learning and applying various building and design skills. The application of integral CTE Masonry and tile skills combined with Math concepts for the creation of tile mosaics each result in a personalized mosaic. These student mosaic tiles are for showcasing throughout the school’s displays,” she concluded.
Administrative reports acknowledged students’ participation and involvement with the Technical Athletic Conference.
Principal Michael C. Adams explained “The Technical Athletic Conference has as its membership all of the vocational/technical high schools in the state. We compete against each other in a variety of sports and compete for an eventual championship that is separate from our affiliations with leagues and the NJSIAA. It’s just another venue for our children to compete and be successful.”
To contact Terrence Harris, email tharris@cmcherald.com.