Tag: CTE

‘Growing Employment Opportunity Through YKSD’s Welding Program’ by ACSA Staff

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Every school district in Alaska focuses on preparing students for life after graduation. Anthony Cavan, CTE Welding Instructor for the Yukon-Koyukuk School District (YKSD), helps students receive the certifications and skills they need to start a career as welders right after graduation.  

After 22 years of teaching welding in Kodiak, Cavan moved to Fairbanks in 2021 to develop a welding program for YKSD. What was created was a short-term intensive training program where Cavan would visit each of the 10 YKSD schools for one week to introduce them to the concepts of welding.   Continue reading ‘Growing Employment Opportunity Through YKSD’s Welding Program’ by ACSA Staff

‘LYSD’s Kusilvak Career Academy: CTE focusing on Careers, Culture, and Leadership’ by ACSA Staff

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Careers, Culture, and Leadership are the core tenets of the Kusilvak Career Academy (KCA), a program for 11th and 12th-grade students in the Lower Yukon School District (LYSD).  

In 2019, the LYSD School board and district leadership sought to help close the equity gap between rural and urban students and how they received their career and technical education (CTE). LYSD’s solution was the Kusilvak Career Academy, a quarterly CTE residential program based in Anchorage.   Continue reading ‘LYSD’s Kusilvak Career Academy: CTE focusing on Careers, Culture, and Leadership’ by ACSA Staff

‘The Metlakatla Master Dive Program: Gaining Skills for the Local Harvest Industry’ by ACSA Staff

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Photo Credit Leslie Johnson

In 2006, former Annette Island School District Superintendent Brett Agenbroad had a vision to offer Metlakatla High School students an opportunity to gain industry experience in diving by providing a scuba program.

Current Superintendent and former CTE Teacher Taw Lindsey said Agenbroad “saw a need to help provide safe training for divers to participate in the local dive harvest industry.” Lindsey shared that there is a significant need for dive harvest of sea cucumber and geoduck clams in the region for the local tribe and state harvests. Continue reading ‘The Metlakatla Master Dive Program: Gaining Skills for the Local Harvest Industry’ by ACSA Staff

‘Students Prepare to Take Flight in Private Pilot Ground School Elective’ by Nicole Stellon O’Donnell

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Travis Stagg, a physics teacher at West Valley High School in Fairbanks, became inspired to offer students the chance to become pilots by his own love of aviation. After taking a “discovery flight” as a gift from his wife, he went on to become a pilot and certified flight instructor himself. 

Fairbanks International Airport

During his aviation journey, he kept hearing about the need to engage more young learners in training for aviation careers. According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, “763,000 new pilots will be needed in the world by 2039, based on Boeing’s Pilot and Technician Outlook.” Ironically, the number of pilot certificates issued by the Federal Aviation Administration has decreased more than 60 percent since 1980.” (APOA)  Stagg elaborates, “Report after report can be found online about the important role aviation plays in our state’s economy and that there is an increasing demand for qualified people to keep that industry healthy.”  Continue reading ‘Students Prepare to Take Flight in Private Pilot Ground School Elective’ by Nicole Stellon O’Donnell

‘Hutchison High School Encourages Life Long Learning Through CTE’ by Principal Robyn Taylor

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James T. Hutchison High School or ‘Hutch’ as we affectionately call it, is a Career and Technical Education (CTE) school of choice within the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. We enroll approximately 100 students per grade, 9th-12th grade. In addition to our core 400 students, there are 164 students from across the district that attend classes at Hutch on a part-time basis.
Hutch provides an integrated learning environment within a culturally diverse community, where academic and career-technical experiences encourage a life-long love of learning, personal integrity, civic mindedness and preparation for successful post-school employment.

Continue reading ‘Hutchison High School Encourages Life Long Learning Through CTE’ by Principal Robyn Taylor