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Carroll County Technical Center: Providing Vital Skills for Tomorrow’s Professionals

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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.

In the Construction program, led by instructor Josh Yundt, students have built a small model home inside the shop, which they use to learn wiring, plumbing and other skills related to building construction. The classes also build custom storage buildings for the public.
The Auto Body program features a fully-equipped body shop where instructor Michael Walker trains students in welding, rust repairs, painting and body work. The shop is installing a new 10,000-pound lift, which will prove useful to students currently performing a full-body restoration on a 1957 Chevrolet. Another new addition is a virtual reality paint booth where students can train.
Light Maintenance Repair instructor Kenneth New teaches and supervises students in performing oil changes and full inspections. The coursework gets more in-depth as students learn and practice engine replacements and restorations. A new Hunter four-wheel alignment machine and a computer diagnostic machine further helps students train for the workforce.
Yet another recent addition to the campus ties together many of the school’s programs and provides unique educational opportunities. Last year, Construction students helped build a greenhouse with a hydroponic system.
Hydroponic systems grow plants without soil, instead using circulating, fertilized water. Principal Stokes said that the system was inexpensive to construct (around $200), consisting mainly of PVC pipe and an aquarium pump.
Once the greenhouse and system were completed, Stokes transplanted some plants from his own garden at home to get it started. The house now produces several varieties each of tomatoes, lettuce, micro-greens, herbs and peppers and may add other plants to the mix for a spring plant sale.
Culinary Arts students identify herbs grown and their uses and use the herbs for their catering and luncheons. The organic products grown in the greenhouse have earned many compliments for freshness and flavor. Crowell said, “It’s awesome to start with a seed and see growth within two weeks. Students get to see that and get a sense of ownership.”
Health Sciences students learn about complementary and alternative medicine as well as nutrition and dietary science.
Marketing students wrote a catchy rap about the greenhouse and used it to help secure a grant by earning likes and shares on Facebook. They also learn to determine profit margins from the potential sale of products grown in the greenhouse.
Criminal Justice students use the greenhouse to study decomposition and evidentiary botany with pigs donated by Tosh Farms.
Several Carroll County high school principals expressed to The Banner their appreciation for CCTC’s contributions.
McKenzie Principal Kelly Spivey said, “It’s a fantastic resource for our students to continue the educational process. The number of jobs available after our students finish at CCTC is enormous.”
Huntingdon Principal Dr. Jonathan Kee said, “Our local vocational school is a tremendous asset to our students. Our workforce is in need of responsible and capable workers who can perform various skill trades. I see first-hand how the programs offered at the vocational school give many of our students a great opportunity to be successful beyond high school graduation.”
West Carroll Principal Kelly Todd said, “The Carroll County Technical Center allows our students to gain a variety of skills while they are still in a high-school setting. These skills are valuable in jumpstarting their future careers or educational paths.”
Hollow Rock-Bruceton Central Principal Joe Norval said, “Dennis Stokes and his teachers and staff at the vocational school in Huntingdon consistently do a great job with giving our vocational students opportunities in work-related courses such as auto mechanics and welding. In most cases, this 'hands-on' training is beneficial in leading students into post-graduation educational opportunities and employment opportunities. Recently, the vocational school has added CTE-Industry Certification opportunities which will assist schools with increasing the number of READY GRADUATES.”
Clarksburg Principal Lori Leasure said, "The 11th and 12th grade students at Clarksburg School attend classes at the Tech Center that they would not have access to at our small school.  The Tech Center allows students to choose courses in the medical, automotive, carpentry, electrical, industrial, criminal justice and nutritional fields that otherwise would not be available to them. Although we do offer some business courses at Clarksburg, the Tech Center offers some business classes that we do not.  We appreciate the opportunities made available to our students at the Technical Center."

Carroll County, Technical, Education, High School, CTE