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HUNTINGDON — The last decade saw a national surge in interest and emphasis on Career and Technical Education (CTE), but Carroll County has been ahead of the trend by nearly half a century thanks to a hidden educational gem.
Since 1976, high school students in the county have incorporated into their curriculum courses at the Carroll County Technical Center, where, presently, Principal Dennis Stokes leads an ambitious staff of educators in instilling a wide variety of in-depth, career-focused knowledge as well as hands-on, real-life skills.
Principal Stokes recently gave The Banner a tour of the campus and a chance to see first-hand the impact of CCTC’s programs on students from all of the county’s high schools. He said, “There’s a lot going on here that people should know about.”
Average enrollment in recent years is approximately 250, mostly consisting of juniors and seniors but including some underclassmen.
Stokes says that in the last couple of years alone, CCTC has acquired around $275,000 in grants from community, government and industry sources.
Besides the incorporation of skills training, another educational trend being embraced at the school is early college credit and workforce-ready certifications.
Students at CCTC have the opportunity to earn a variety of industry certifications, including OSHA-10, ServeSafe, CPT and more, and have access to a growing number of dual-enrollment courses.
In the Criminal Justice program, Dr. Lisa Norris prepares students to pursue a variety of related careers. In the introductory course, they’ll learn the basics of the three components of criminal justice: courts, policing and corrections. Criminal Justice II goes into further detail about policing, and Criminal Justice III covers forensics. The fourth course is a dual-enrollment class with Bethel University, equivalent to a sophomore-level college Introduction to Criminal Justice class. Dr. Norris occasionally offers Pre-Law I, which covers the Constitution and the legal code.
Students in the Criminal Justice program acquire real skills to go along with knowledge. They visit the firing range each semester, hosted by the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department, and gain experience with AR-15s, 9mm handguns and shotguns. They visit the county jail and emergency operations center. At the Bethel University forensics lab, they learn about analyzing fingerprints, footprints, hair and more. They, along with Health Sciences students, observe a real autopsy via satellite from Washington University. They attend Prevention Day on the Hill in Nashville. Judge John Everett Williams and his staff assist the students in preparing for mock trial competitions. Students compete as a Crime Scene Investigation team at SkillsUSA competitions.
Health Sciences instructor Amanda Derryberry, RN, says the program covers “everything healthcare.” Students learn the basic functions of the whole system, then move on to diagnostics. Medical therapeutics puts it all together as a complete assessment. Eventually, the pupils earn an OSHA-10 certification and enter clinical internships to job shadow with the school’s Partners in Education for nine weeks.
The school is in talks with the University of Tennessee at Martin for dual enrollment and a Certified Medical Assistant course. The program has recently added three new Z Space Virtual Reality modules thanks to a grant.
Marketing is another CCTC program with a wide community footprint. Instructor Cara Chadwick teaches marketing and business concepts in the classroom, but much of the learning is through events and activities outside the walls of the school. Students organize toy drives and canned food drives. The Chamber of Commerce provides experience with business plans. Students help with the annual Carroll County Habitat for Humanity Gala. They travel to Nissan Stadium in Nashville to participate in the Tennessee Titans Learning Lab. The teens learn life skills, resume-building and job searching and conduct mock interviews to prep for the real thing. Chadwick and her students manage the CCTC Facebook page. The students recently developed a promotional video for the school and are planning to compete at SkillsUSA competitions with the video and t-shirt and pin designs.
Instructor Michelle Crowell’s Culinary Arts program teaches culinary standards on paper, then students apply them in the hands-on kitchen lab. They learn about fine dining and etiquette and develop unique skills such as knife cuts and napkin folds. Classes learn to make cheese, which they then use to make pizzas from scratch. The students learn to bake, butcher and even to fillet fish. They learn to innovate with basic ingredients.
The programs offers catering services to the community to give the students extra opportunities to get into the kitchen. They’ll sometimes serve their patrons, giving them chances for interaction with adults, networking and confidence-building. The teens also learn food safety and sanitation practices and can earn ServeSafe or Food Serve Manager certifications from the National Restaurant Association. Crowell notes that culinary ties into many other fields.
The program will soon offer dual enrollment with the University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee. Culinary Arts students participate in SkillsUSA competitions as well.
Manufacturing program students learn to operate various fabrication machines as well as welding. Instructor Mitchell Whitworth leads students in all manner of metal repairs, and they build custom barbecue grills and smokers. The Manufacturing shop boasts new computerized, programmable equipment, including a Haas lade and a milling machine. The program partners with Bodine of Jackson for programming and training on the machines.