Earlier this year, the ConVal School Board introduced a $44 million proposal that would have included renovations to ConVal High School’s Career and Technical Education center. The proposal was withdrawn over concerns about cost. Even without the ConVal expansion, CTEs play a critical role in the education of hundreds of local students. This article is the first of a series that looks at the region’s CTEs and how they are playing that role.

There are more than 200 unfilled skilled manufacturing jobs in the Monadnock region alone, according to Jennifer Kiley, director of the Region 14 Career and Technical Education Center at ConVal High School.

In her role as CTE director, Kiley always has one eye on the numbers – specifically, the job market, and how changes and trends will affect her students and her programming.

“CTE centers respond to hiring trends in the local area. We want to prepare kids for careers that are going to be happening in the future, so we stay in the loop with our local employers and what they need. We have leaders of local large employers on our advisory committees, and we are in constant communication with them,” Kiley said. “We try to close that gap between what local employers need and what certifications and skills we can offer our students.”

Closing that gap, Kiley said, is part of preparing students for the future.

“Our local employers would like to retain local young people as employees, to get kids to come back here and stay,” Kiley said. “They are invested in keeping young people in the region.”

What is the CTE?

CTE is a nationwide educational program, with centers in all 50 states and in U.S. territories. CTE is federally funded by the Perkins V Career and Technical Education Grant. Statewide, about half of all CTE learners are enrolled in programs in growing fields such as health care, STEM and information technology.

Kiley said that all types of students, representing 53% of the ConVal student body, take classes at the CTE.

The Region 14 CTE (also known at ConVal as the ATC, or Applied Technology Center) is one of 20 CTE centers in New Hampshire. ConVal, Conant and Mascenic are all part of Region 14, with all three schools offering different programming. Students at each school can enroll at the others.

In Region 14, ConVal has programs in engineering, graphic design, woodworking, manufacturing, business, careers in education, computers and information technology and digital photo and video. Conant has construction trades, and Mascenic has an automotive service technology program.

The Region 14 CTE regional advisory committee includes a representative from each school district and school board, local industry and program area. The center also has smaller program advisory committees for each of the center’s subject areas, including manufacturing, woodworking, engineering and graphic design.

“The CTE is not just for students who are not going on to four-year college or other higher education. That’s a misconception,” Kiley said. “We also offer college credits which our students can transfer into many schools in New Hampshire. Many of our CTE students go on to college.”

‘Actual work, in real industry’

Zach Jones, ConVal’s Extended Learning Opportunities coordinator, finds outside internships for CTE students aimed at reaching specific competencies. Recent Region 14 CTE internship placements include American Steel, the Town of Peterborough, Harding Plumbing and Heating and Monadnock Community Hospital.

“Work-based learning is an extension of the classroom in a real work setting,” Jones said. “It has to be a sustained, real-work experience in a setting that is directly related to the class they are in.”

Jones said CTE internships are “actual work, in real industry.”

“At American Steel, our students are working with industry professionals, and they’re learning the process from start to finish, from the sketch on a napkin to fabricating and cutting all the parts,” he said. “They learn to use and practice on machinery we don’t have at ConVal. We send students to American Steel for three weeks. Right now, we have students making a sundial for the school – it’s a significant project.”

Jones said students can use CTE internships to try out different fields with no negative consequences.

“We always say it is just as important for students to figure out what they don’t want to go into, and that’s it really valuable for them to figure this out now, while it’s free,” Jones said. “We had a student who thought she might be interested in nursing, but she decided she did not want to be working with people in medicine. Her AP biology teacher had the idea that we should reach out to Peterborough’s wastewater treatment plant, and she’s now interning over there and she really enjoys the science and lab work part of it.”

The Region 14 CTE partners with many local nonprofit organizations. The Peterborough Kiwanis Club funds the CTE Student of the Month award, and the Greater Monadnock Chamber works with Jones to find internship placements. Currently, Jones is working with the Peterborough Economic Development Council to organize a spring community job fair at ConVal April 17..

Both Jones and Kiley say that the “soft skills” students learn through professional work experience are as valuable as the technical skills.

“People without tech skills is not the only issue. The employers tell us all the time they need people with more general and transferable skills, like self-awareness,” Kiley said. “Our students understand why they have to dress up for an interview; they understand there is competition. The CTE is about preparing the students for real life. In the CTE, my students never ask ‘Why am I learning this?’”

Jones said internships give students valuable exposure to careers they might not have known existed.

“We’re making learning as real and relevant as possible; the internships are an extension of the classroom in a real work setting,” Jones said. “The employers in the area are very willing to work with our students.”

CTE’s role

Both Jones and Kiley say the CTE plays a valuable role in the economic development of the region.

“There are so many pathways to good jobs, and there are so many in this area,” Jones said. “There is a huge gap in education about career pathways; there are so many opportunities that are unknown. That’s the gap we’re trying to fill; it’s the connection we are trying to make.”

According to the state Department of Education, CTE learners have a 10% higher high school graduation rate than non-CTE students, 75% of CTE students enroll in post-secondary education after high school and the majority of CTE students in New Hampshire enroll in either a two-year or four-year college program related to their field of interest.

National Center for Education Statistics show that high school graduates who took more than three CTE credits have a lower unemployment rate than graduates who did not take as many CTE credits. Taking more CTE credits is also correlated with better employment benefits.

Challenges

Statewide, access to CTE’s can be problematic due to geographic distances that require students to travel during the school day, and some centers are so heavily enrolled that access can be challenging.

“There are some wait lists, and kids have to interview to get in,” Kiley said. “It is important for kids to find out more about the class so they can decide whether or not they really want to do it.”

The Region 14 CTE is continuously evolving the program to meet local labor market needs in order to help students become more qualified candidates for employment.

“We look at short- and long-term projections by area, and we’re always thinking about how the CTE can evolve,” Kiley said. “We try to offer the credentials and skills that our students need so that they will be employable. We look at, ‘What can make our kids more employable than the competition?’ We want to give kids the best shot that we can. Right now, we’re monitoring how AI is affecting the job openings that are out there and how it may affect earnings.”

Recently, in response to a growing need cited by local employers, the Region 14 CTE added an OSHA 10 certificate program. The CTE also wrote a grant to create a metrology program for high-level measurement certification, and were able to purchase the equipment they needed to start the program with grant funds.

“In response to what our local employers have been telling us, we added metrology certifications, because kids are coming into manufacturing jobs and they do not know how to measure once they get past a 32nd of an inch,” Kiley said. “We teach them how to use calipers, how to use precise instruments. Things in manufacturing have to be measured to the 100th of an inch. They have to go back and learn this basic skill, because for the way we’ve evolved, everything is done by computer.”

A recent effort toward the program’s evolution was halted when the ConVal School Board elected not to go forward with a project to renovate the ConVal CTE. The renovation project would have included adding new program areas to the CTE, including veterinary care, health care and metallurgy, areas which were recommended by an advisory board of local industry leaders.

The CTE/high school renovation project was estimated at approximately $33.48 million. The board estimated that state funding, based on historical funding records, would have been approximately $14.73 million, leaving approximately $18.75 million to be covered by a district bond.

During a community forum in December, residents expressed concerns over the potential impact on their tax bills, given the jumps in all nine ConVal towns.

“We will continue to do the best we can for our students,” Kiley said. “We’ll look at other ways to keep improving and meeting the needs of the community and our students.”

For more information about the Region 14 CTE, go to cvhs.conval.edu/en-US/applied-technology-center-90e1c50f.