Career and Technical Education (CTE) in the state of Kansas is an education framework that allows students to provide technical knowledge and skills to prepare students for working in their industry of interest. Some of the pathways that Rock Creek High School offers include
- Media Design and Communication
- Construction and Design
- Marketing
- Finance
- Restaurant and Event managing
- Diversified Ag Science
- Ag Tech and Mechanical Systems
- Health Science
All of these programs are overviewed by Jessica Roche, CTE coordinator at Rock Creek High School. The CTE teachers are David Holiday. LeAnn Rottinghaus, Robert Thomas, Patrick Bramhall, Jeri Brummett, Jessica Roche, and Shana Schmidt. As a coordinator Jessica Roche, oversees internships, assists instructors, collects and analyzes students CTE participation, and reports on each program’s effectiveness.
“I think they are very beneficial. I think it impacts the school in a positive way and I hope to grow it. I think we will continue to grow our internship program. I would like to see it expand to different pathway offerings that we don’t have, but obviously it’s limited by the amount of teachers that can teach CTE classes,” Roche said.
However the amount of teachers able to teach these courses are not the only block to CTE offerings. Superintendent at Rock Creek High School, Steve Splichal shared the other challenges to CTE programs at Rock Creek High School.
“For right now it’s space. Space and the instructors. You know I think we have utilized every classroom and every space to do that…In order to put an autobody or some type of additional CTE program together you got to have space,” Splichal said.
While attempting to address the challenges of CTE there are numerous positive impacts to having these courses. The career exploration taking place in the classroom can help better our community.
“I think a couple things come to mind. I think one is that kids are getting an opportunity to explore different professions, without getting out into the college world,” Splichal said.
It seems that Rock Creek High School Students are taking advantage of these courses. According to CTE coordinator, Jessica Roche over 55% of last year’s graduating seniors were enrolled in a CTE course.
