What I really am excited about, is that students who participate in these programs are highly likely to get a job when they graduate if they pass and get all certifications required for their field. Almost all of the programs at Area 31 are dual credit classes, which means they receive college credit at one of the community colleges who partner with them. This increases students' opportunities for further education and jobs.
I just received a mailing from my state representative in Indiana discussing new legislature and he states that, "A new law aligns career and technical education programs with current and future employer needs to help fill the nearly 30,000 job openings in Indiana." Our schools are changing their programs to meet the specific needs of employers. Now we need to recruit for these programs.
I get several calls each year from industries asking if we have students who want to work, and they are willing to train them. Most of these jobs for untrained workers start their base pay at $13 or $14 per hour, which is double that of food service and retail.
A barrier I run into as a school counselor is that more and more of today's students want to work less than 40 hours a week, and they don't really want to work that hard. We are doing our part to try to get students interested in these programs, and my school, Harris Academy, requires all sophomores who attend to apply for CTE classes for their junior year. Next year, approximately 40 of our 170 students will be attending Area 31. I am very proud of our students. The key is to keep giving them the facts and the information about the opportunities that are out there. If we get excited about it, students who are not traditional college bound students will get excited about it too. One language that both young and old understand from birth is money. When students see their earning potential matched with something they like, they will be successful!
