Published: March 06, 2007 03:15 am      

WO-S High School career center to hold open house

By Tommy Mann Jr.

The Orange Leader



West Orange-Stark High School students will have the opportunity to witness first hand what career preparing courses the high school has to offer Wednesday.

The Career and Technology Center at West Orange-Stark High School will be the site of the first ever open house event allowing freshman through junior students to see what programs the center has to offer.

The facility, which is located on the high school campus near the tennis courts, houses programs such as building trades, health science technology, machining and welding, video technology, business computer information systems and keyboarding, criminal justice, plus many others.

Students, as well as the public, are invited to tour the facility from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Wednesday and see what the Career and Technology Center has to offer students of the West Orange-Cove school district plus students who attend neighboring school systems such as Orangefield and Bridge City.

“The purpose of this event is to promote what we do out here,” said Cathy Miller, health science technology instructor. “Many of the students stay in the main building and never come over here, so they don’t know what we have to offer.”

Some of the programs are considered “college prep” which means some of the curriculum can transfer over to the college level.

Current programs which allow students to enter the professional world immediately after graduation, pending state board certification, include pharmacy technician and certified nursing assistant.

WO-S High School underclassmen will view a career center promotional video in their Mustang Advisory Class on Wednesday to introduce them to the Career Center and its programs.

During the tour the students will be able to observe demonstrations and receive information about each of the CATE programs which are available to them.

“Unfortunately, we won’t have a lot of time to spend in each area of the event,” said Bryan Thomas, diversified career preparation instructor. “Students are welcome to come back during lunch if they find something they are really interested in and want more information.”

Thomas said it is the hope of the Career and Technology Education teachers to better promote the vocational classes that are available to students of West Orange–Stark High School.

“We would like to showcase the facilities, equipment, and instruction that are available in the career center to both the student body and our academic colleagues,” Thomas said. “Getting kids into our programs is our objective. There is a lot here that we offer and people never hear about it.”

Not only is the program open to West Orange-Stark students, but also students in neighboring districts like Bridge City and Orangefield.

Miller has 13 students from Orangefield in her classes, and several other teachers have students from both Orangefield and Bridge City.

“This open house event is also a good opportunity for parents of those students to come see these programs,” Thomas said. “Our counselors are in touch with their counselors, but this is a good opportunity for the parents.”

Thomas and Miller said the idea for this open house event was born in the summer prior to the beginning of the current school year.

“This is something we thought we really needed to do,” Thomas said. “There just isn’t enough time in the day anymore for students, especially with the new 4 x 4 coming into play. Vocational education is going to lose out on some students since they have to take those extra classes.”

Last November, the State Board of Education unanimously approved the addition of one year to the current minimum requirement of three years of math and science, which would require most students to take four years each of science and math.

Thomas said representatives from more than 10 local businesses will also be on hand Wednesday, many who currently employ students from the diversified career preparation program.

“All of the students in my program work part time,” Thomas said. “Their bosses are coming out and will probably talk to some of the kids. A lot of these are your typical summer, high school student kind of job, but it helps the kids get ready for what happens after school life.”

Thomas said the local businesses will be at the open house event to show support for the program, but to also search for prospective new employees. Representatives from businesses such as Market Basket, Kroger, Dairy Queen, and Sonic are just some of the ones expected to attend the career center open house.

“Many of them are short handed and are looking for new hires,” Thomas said. “Some of them will most likely even have applications.”

Miller said some students come into the career center because they want to be in nursing, but do not realize there are over 200 health career jobs for students to choose from in the real world.

“A lot of these students can use these classes as credits at the Lamar Institute of Technology or Lamar State Colleges in Orange or Port Arthur,” Miller said. “This is a great chance for students to get a head start in college or in life.”



Reach this reporter at 409-883-3571, ext. 2619 or tmann@orangeleader.com