There are a few very good reasons why Brooke High administrators always welcome opportunities to expand the school’s Career Technical Education programs.
For starters, the high school’s CT students have the chance to earn an associate degree from West Virginia Northern Community College at the same time they’re collecting class credits toward graduation in areas such as welding. Plus, the demand for students educated in nursing, computer science, and pre-engineering has increased in the Upper Ohio Valley in recent years.
But the biggest and most important reason for the concentration on the Career Tech areas, though, is that fact that about half of all students at Brooke High School are enrolled in one or more CTE classes this school year.
“Every kid in the world is different, so it’s important to us as a school system to communicate with our students about their goals and what they want to do with their future,” explained Jeffrey Crook, superintendent of Brooke County Schools. “Attempting to line up today’s young people and direct them all in the same direction isn’t the right thing to do. That approach, I believe, is doing a disservice to that student, and that’s why we communicate with our kids in the ways we do.
“We have a lot of students in our high school who have the intention of going to college once they earn their diploma here, and those young people are concentrating on what they need when they move on to the college level,” the administrator said. “And we have hundreds of students enrolled in our CTE classes this year because they know they now have those options.”
Mike Berner, the director of the Career Technical Education Department at Brooke High, explained why he pays a lot of attention to the growth at WVNCC’s Wheeling campus. Over the past two decades, WVNCC has adopted a concentration on what professions are most needed in the tri-state region, and that’s why the institution has matured its industrial-based curriculum.
“The state of West Virginia funds the community college very well so that’s why we’ve continued to add programs, too. For example, our students have the chance to get their diploma and an associate degree at the same time,” Berner said. “The same is true now with other programs like carpentry and computer science because enhancing our CTE department has been a priority.
“Right now, at Brooke High, we have a little more than 800 students, and right now over 400 of them are enrolled in our CTE programs,” he reported. “We have learned that every kid wants to go to college because they have other ideas about how to make a living while staying here in the valley.”
Supply & Demand
The welding profession throughout the Upper Ohio Valley quickly grew in popularity with the arrival of the gas and oil industries more than 15 years ago, and while the first wave of pipeline construction is complete, many energy insiders believe more is on the way.
Natural gas production is now a solid source of employment in the area and with drilling and fracking still taking place on both sides of the Ohio River, the demand for pipeline workers will remain consistent. The same can be said, Berner confirmed, about other hands-on professions, too.
“We’re always looking to expand the number of CT programs we have, but there’s always a cost and those programs are not cheap,” Berner said. “It is possible to partner with our local trades, and that’s definitely what we would address if programs like plumbing and HVAC are added in the future. We’re aware there’s a need for men and women who know how to work in those fields.
“There’s a lot of equipment we would have to invest in so we could get programs like those up and running, so it’ll take a lot of planning and commitment from everyone involved,” he explained. “A new HVAC program and a new plumbing program are high on the priority list, but there’s also the need for qualified educators and those are difficult to come by these days because of the need for those professionals in our communities here.”
Dr. Crook insists he’s up to the challenge.
“The private sector can do a lot of things that a school system can’t when it comes to recruiting new educators for our CTE areas because of the differences there are. A private company can hand over big raises and bonuses and give a new position an extra week of vacation whenever the owner wants to, but we can’t do that because we have guidelines we must follow,” he explained. “Right now, we have such great educators in our CTE department, and we know we’re lucky to have them in those positions. It just has to work for everyone involved, and that’s why we’re always looking for new opportunities.
“At the same time, we do reinvest in the programs we have now, and that’s important because of how fast the technology keeps updating,” Crook added. “Our students have to be using the tech the pros are using so we work very hard to make that happen.”
