Career and technical education helps give students valuable skills and knowledge. They also offer so much more, including many things the public doesn’t know about.
Take the eight Career and Technology Centers in Spartanburg and Greenville counties for example. Did you know that Swofford Career Center is the birthplace of the National Technical Honor Society? Or that Daniel Morgan Career Center has recently revived its law enforcement training program? Or that R.D. Anderson Applied Technology Center’s culinary classes offer meals-to-go for sale to the community? Or that students at the five centers in Greenville County - Donaldson Career Center, Enoree Career Center, Golden Strip Career Technology Center, J.Harley Bonds Career Center, and Roper Mountain Innovation Center - earned 10,000 certifications last year alone?
Those are just some of the things that need to be celebrated. And February is Career and Technical Education Month, which strives to shine a spotlight on the huge difference that CTE makes in ensuring students are excited, qualified, and successful in a wide variety of professions.
More than that, CTE Month celebrates the 16 career clusters that encompass CTE as a program. CTE focuses on hard skills, career readiness, and learning a skilled profession. Success is based not only on conceptual understanding of a topic, but also on students’ advancement as skilled workers.
CTE Month underscores the fact that students don’t have to be in a traditional classroom to be considered successful students.
At Harrison’s, the products we offer go hand-in-hand with education in the trades, and with the CTE curriculum as a whole. So we’re embracing the chance to celebrate these centers and the programs they offer, but more importantly, we’re embracing the chance to celebrate these students.
In the coming months, look for stories centered around Career and Technical Education projects, schools, and people in our area. Because while it’s incredibly important to recognize CTE month, we want you to get to know the wonderful things these students are doing every day.