001Thank you uh everyone for being here tonight. Especially big thank you to our panel which we'll get to introduce you all here in just a second. But I wanted to first uh introduce Aaron Tomlin, our director of career and college readiness or always known as CTE. But for those that don't know all the acronyms, uh it's uh career technical education or career and college readiness. So whatever's whatever makes people ready for high school. Um and you have a presentation to go over with us tonight. Yeah. So, um, super simple one today. It's less of me talking and it's we're going to hear from some of the kids that are in the program, have lived the program. Um, and I'm super excited because I've talked to some of them here and there, but I'm excited to
002hear just more breadth uh, and they're from various programs. So, we got some representation of some of the programs that we don't always uh, bring pull out. So, I'm excited to hear from them today. So, yeah. Awesome. And so for those of you that don't know about how board school boards work and everything, one of our meetings a month is a study session where we get to talk because uh according to all the laws, we can't uh speak as a group outside of these open public meetings. So this is our chance as a group to talk about things going on in the district and then at our board meetings is where we do all the voting and business and everything. So it's pretty informal and so don't don't be too stressed. I'm sure it's not
003uh it's a little nerve-wracking being on the spot, but we really appreciate you being here. So, right. I'll get it started. Uh so, CTE ties directly in with our uh goal five and so today we're going to kind of hear about how some of the ways that it's impact how this uh impacts our overall experience as we've got seniors here that that are going to tell you a little bit. We always are uh continuing to to follow our promise. Of course, no value and support. And I'm hoping that you'll hear some of those things come out about the special experiences they've had um as they've come gone through our programs um and our CTSOs and our classes and and all the great things. Um and then really goal five in our our our strategic plan
004is is directly related to the things that CT does. Like I I take that as like that's our personal like we need to lean in and we represent that as as much as we can. That's what it's about for us. So, um, super super happy to talk about them today. Um, we got some new courses. I just want to let you know, hey, got a couple of new courses coming. Um, so JTC, ASL 3, uh, career and life readiness are just a couple that you can expect. And if you go on tours with me or any other things next year you want to see or hear more about it, let me know and we can talk about those. Now, there is a QR code there that shows all the programs, but we're I showed most
005of you that last time around and if you want to see them, uh, I could I could share that. Let's get to the kids because that's the important part today. So, uh, all right. So, we have one change in here, but I'm just going to have you go down the line and if you can just talk about, uh, what's your name, grade, school, and like the what classes you're in right now? Actually, that's our first question. So, just name, grade, and school. That would be great. Get us started. Tate, you want to start? Uh, I am Tate Leeman. Uh, I am a senior and I'm going to finally high school right now. CG classes I'm in. I'm in digital photo one. Well, I'm Daniel Laney. I'm a senior. I go to Sard High School. I'm
006in business classes and then I'm also in history, film, and math. And I'm going to Udub next year. My name is Mia Cardinz. Uh I am a Running Start student at Soner. Uh currently the only CT class I've taken is plant science. Uh and then over the past couple years I've taken aerospace 1 and two. I've taken culinary. And I'm also representing the FFA. Hello, I am Katie. I'm a senior at Sumar High School and currently I am taking intro to engineering design and plus aerospace club. Hi, my name is Jayen Kaylor. Um I'm a senior at Bonnie Lake High School and this year I'm taking AP Statistics um yearbook and I'm TA for intro to business and marketing. Um my name is Laura and I go to Bick High School. I'm a junior. Um
007right now I'm going into biote biotechnology. Um, in my sophomore year, I took addition to brain and medical science, learning a lot, visual pathography. It's impressive. Cool. A lot of different. Yeah. Wide variety. As I was introduced, I was like, man, they're not just taking in one program, but they're like, so super cool. Yeah. All right, let's get there. We go. All right. So, the first one we kind of got into a little bit. What CT class are you in or have you taken? Um, and then what kinds of things? So, think of some of your uh you know, some of the things that you're currently doing for those either I think you're all in programs currently. So, what's something that you've done that's recent um that that you don't get to do in other
008classes? Uh yeah, like I said, I'm in digital photo right now. Uh but pretty much a different art class or yeah, different class I've ever taken. Um it was a good good intro to sort of arts. Uh but like in the past I've taken uh cyber security. Uh I don't actually could not remember all the CT classes I've taken. I had to pull up my my list, but um I've taken IED just like the robotics one class, uh cyber security, project management into programming, uh a lot of different stuff. Um a lot of surprising things I didn't realize were uh CD class until afterwards. Um but yeah, I don't cool. All right. So, uh I took an animal anatomy last year and in that class I didn't really like animals or like farms, but it
009was really cool like get a new perspective and I honestly enjoyed learning about like all the new animals. We got to see live forces in class and then also in my personal choices class I took that freshman year, but it was like a hands-on cooking class and then we also had like a sewing unit and I've never like sewed anything before so making PJs was definitely a good experience for me. Yeah. And then lastly, I'm mostly centered in business and that's what I'm focused on. And within that, my most recent project is creating a business plan with like a eco-entered business plan. So, I'm doing like eco clothing. So, yeah. Um, so my sophomore year when I took culinary, I thought it was really cool cuz I got my food handlers card, which I needed
010to work at my current job, Denny's. Um, and then in plant science, I've gotten introduced to FFA over the years when I took a biology my freshman year, but in plant science, I got the chance to be our greenhouse manager. That meant I was kind of running our plant sale. And my most recent project, oh, and we're also getting our o certification there. So, I thought that's also pretty cool. And my most recent project is my aggra science project for FFA and my employment skills competition that we just went to state for. Um, so in past I've been in digital photography, nutrition and fitness, child development, intro to engineering and design, intro to programming through game design, code plus aerospace 1. I've also been a part of FFA robotic skills USA for aerospace and FCCLA.
011And one of my more notable things that I've done recently is I went to a manufacturing competition up at Boeing and I won second place. Um, but three that I'm taking this year, I've also taken culinary and I took personal choices as well my freshman year. Um, I feel like there's a wide variety of things that we do in each class, specifically with personal choices freshman year. Um, the financial unit really got me into business. So now I'm Bonnie Lake High School's DA president and we just went to internationals in Florida two weekends ago. So that was a great opportunity and I don't think I would have been in that position if it wasn't for CT. Um, one of the things I got through in like addiction in the brain as well as medical science,
012um, you get a lot of more experience like as if you're in college. Um, I felt more like it was on point and targeted in classes as well as the teacher explains the things in very many details and I felt like it was super connected to nowadays society. Um, and like it leads me to something we learn about but like Especially in addiction in the brain, we learn about the drugs, how it affects the brain and why people do it and how the reason. Um, and then from medical science, we learn the background of the history of how healthcare was performed and how it like functioned throughout the throughout the years. And I think those are really actually really cool because I think I learned a lot more history than history class. Awesome. Well, you
013guys kind of shared a little bit of this, but Laura, I'm gonna start with you down there this time. Uh, so out of all those awesome projects that you've done, what would you say is your like most favorite thing that you did in activities or projects and why? Like what made it stand out to you? Um, so in medical science one, uh, we did this project where we start like in the first semester, we have to start an enables throughout the whole year. Um it's basically an independent research where you gain up a lot of articles and you find it on websites um that relates to healthcare. Um and then you read it, you outline it, and then you also if you have any questions, you ask your teachers about it to make sure you're
014on the right test. And then you also come up with conclusions. We come up with uh and then claim I mean my response on how the world has changed from way back in like BC or DC. And I think that we even I personally like doing research on my own cuz it's just a lot fun to do research and learning a lot by yourself. Um I think there's difference of where your teacher is teaching a way as well as you're learning it by yourself. So when you do get to do a lot of research on your own, you also gain a lot more knowledge. Um because the teacher try to put a lot of u things in a short amount of time while you have the whole time to yourself which you can do and
015have access a lot more. And if you get to do a lot of research on it, you get to learn a lot. And then in that project we uh put those uh sources and articles that we read throughout and we just make a big project and how healthcare has performed comparing from the back till now. Um and then how like the implications of the patients how the world can be better if you were in it and like how you can make an impact if you were um like a doctor or like if you were being part of it. how would you do things like that kind of project and it was actually one of my favorite because I was sophomore and then my healthcare was going into or my pathway was going into medical field
016so and then gaining that a lot I was just like it's just crazy like it was new experience to me and then with my teacher support also it like made me realize a lot of things um with AP statistics ICS. It's probably one of my favorite classes I've ever taken. Um I want to eventually start a career in finance and marketing analytics. So, it's really awesome getting to see um the different like statistical projects that we do within the class um continuously throughout the year. We've just done so much hands-on experience throughout the courses. And I just think it's such a unique experience because I feel like in most math classes it's a lot of workbooks and writing assignments, but in AP statistics it's a lot more hands-on activities. Like one of my favorite projects
017we've done is we created paper airplanes and studied the statistical analysis of that and it's just it's very cool and it's something different you know and it's I'm able to take a different perspective on the math course and the way I view math in general and it definitely enhanced my want to study that in college as well. Um, so mine's not really a project or an activity, but it's an event that happened in my robotics season in 2024 when I had to jump in for robotics team that had all but one member above. And I had little to no robotics experience at this time, but I jumped in and spent 16 hours straight on a bot and got a competition ready and then went to a competition the next day and won 11th during competition,
018which was second overall in our school. Um, and it was stressful, but I did something. um push me to problem solve and learn quickly but also believe in myself under pressure. Uh my favorite just activities and projects that we've done in plant science. We've worked really hands-on with different types of soil and we learned what causes these different types of soil and where they're at. And this really gave me just the information and all of just the want to learn about this for my aggra science project. And it we also got to use the Morris farms that we have in our plant science class that are provided to us. And for my project, what it was based on, it was me altering soil phes to mimic the um acts of acid, rain, and climate change.
019And I got first place for that contest. And I just really think that it's cool that we get to work hands-on with these things and we get different types of resources that you wouldn't get in any other class. I'd say my favorite learning was in my IV business class this year. Uh we planned a wedding budget and so it allowed me to be more creative and gave me more experience on the math side of things because business related I'm not as strong in that pursuit. And also I would say allowing me to be creative and like realistic because in the real world people can't afford everything in a wedding. So like learning how to cut certain things out and what do you need and what what do you want? So I would say allow me
020to be creative. That would be most you found out how expensive they are. I got to use your uh Yeah. So uh my favorite uh sort of thing hasn't Yeah. Also isn't really like a project or activity. It's also the bicycle robotics team. Spent a lot of time there. Been on it all four years. Um uh I guess where I choose a CTE class. Uh I had a lot of fun in the the cyber security class. Um yeah, I I felt like I had a lot of uh freedom to explore. I really appreciated like the the resource of having sort of like it was a different assignment every time it give you a lab just to kind of like go play around in. And like um I felt like it gives a very clear buyin
021for people to just uh go um explore. Like if you didn't want to go into cyber security, which is I'm looking into it, but like if you didn't want to go into cyber security specifically, like it's still just a lot about networking information and you get tons to know about that. There's a lot of like based information about that and that's been helpful in the robotic scene like knowing like how that all works, knowing more like the contextual stuff like because I've robotic or the programming team for robotics. Uh yeah, it feels like it's just given me a lot of context for my future pursuits in standard things. Right. Next one. So, how how is this class different from your other classes? So, like your core classes, how are the ones that you I mean,
022you've all taken multiple. So, thinking about those as a whole, like what makes them different from your other classes that you want to start us off? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it's kind of the same thing. Um, just it feels like whatever end whatever the class was, I felt like I had a lot of freedom to excel or like to like go beyond whatever was part of the assignment um and like be creative. uh in yeah in all these different things uh like whether it was like cyber security had specific assignments but you could go off and do whatever you want like you had project two projects that like had no limit like what how much time you wanted to invest um and yeah I felt like just like at I guess like the classes
023and culture and like the teachers like knowing like being a CTE teacher um like coming from that sort of background of having that attitude I felt like that has also just been kind of helpful overall um with like yeah felt I don't know I guess it's hard to explain. It's just a a good uh good vibe around the um sort of like treatment of like getting ready for the future and not being like here is history. So yeah, I would say what I like most about CTE classes or business in specific is the creativity. adding on to that just like I'm given a set amount of rules and like regulations but within those rules I'm able to be creative and that's what I like most because that's what I'm pursuing like marketing. So I would
024say like the creative innovation and like being able to create what you want and I think that's a huge part of learning that all kids should go through. So like that's that's been the biggest difference between my core classes and like English and history is being able to create something and make my vision come alive. So yeah, I think my favorite parts of CTE classes is not just that we can be more creative, but it gives us chances to branch off of the class itself because a lot of the classes like the teachers in them, they have their own clubs and they're obviously trying to get people to join their clubs, but they're teaching you things about it and they're really just pushing you to do more. And like all the classes that I've taken
025over the past couple years, they really prepared me for like my job interviews for my job itself because I'm a server. So I'm talking to plenty of people every day. They've also prepared me for I taught a lot of I've learned a lot of entrepreneurship like with the plant sale and it helped me start my own nail business. And I just really think that these classes itself, they give a lot more than you can get from the core classes you need to take because yes, you're teach you're learning things from those, but I really think that these CTE classes help you branch off more and learn more skills that you're going to use in the real world like just with people and I think they help you more like adapt more to any situation that
026you might come across. Um, I would say the CTE classes are different because they're more hands-on and focused on real world skills. So, instead of just reading and taking tests constantly, you're kind of learning things that will directly connect with like possible future careers, kind of like what you were talking about. Um, but they also teach like soft skills like teamwork and communication, time management, um, which are all just as important as technical skills. Um, I feel like taking CT classes has really enhanced my my communication and collaboration skills with students that I don't know. Um, again, like they said, it's very handson. And I feel like specifically with my CTE teachers, what I've experienced is that I'm treated more like an equal and like I'm an adult compared to them. Um, in my core
027classes, it's definitely a lot more rules and textbooks where I feel like in my CTE classes, there's a level of trust that I have with those teachers that I don't have with my core teachers. Um because like other kids said, there's a lot of more creative freedom in CTE classes and it's just that level of trust that's built with those teachers where they tell you this is the overall journal idea of your project. Now go build something with it. And I just feel like I have connections with those teachers that I don't really experience with regular teachers at my high school. Um in the topics of like healthcare I think that they are more important society nowadays because of co like changed up some rules about healthcare and learning about these classes with CTS. I
028think it would benefit a lot for the student to learn about healthcare as well as um give them a chance to be or more connected to healthcare. Um especially those students who's interested in the healthare system. um because I was interested in healthcare and I didn't really know how medical science was going to help me but getting into that class um got more experience of the healthcare and it also benefited me to being more connected to other hospitals and clinics cuz now I'm also doing full program where I am taking care of patients as a real life example and um as you get into more of CT classes where it's on point and targeted to your pathway in the future. It makes you realize what you actually want to do in the future and sets
029you up for your future. And I think that's what is different. I just want to put out there that we love our core classes too. We do. Yeah. Uh so what uh next question? Let's go to uh what's one skill that you've learned in your CT classes that you are proud of? Um and if anybody wants to start, we'll start with you and then we we'll let Laura and uh Tate have a break or or Tate can go for it. You want to go for it, Tate? I'm ready. All right, go for it. Um yeah. Uh I couldn't when I was trying to write down notes, I couldn't think of the word. I said self-leedness. I don't know the word, but like the ability to like be self- led. I felt like that's been the
030I've seen a lot of progress within myself over the over the past four years. Um like looking at just like the different cloud like I when I had entered programming through game design, it was a lot of just like did what I was told but like it was a lot of like I can do what I want or like I can I can or I will get done as much as I am willing to put put the time into. which like through like project management and everything else. I've seen a lot of that and like in um I know robotic slow isn't specifically C but there's a lot of connection at mass but um through through that I've seen a lot of like that of like professionalism from that um and like getting to experience
031that like at competitions like I'm I'm a scout leader I'm just I talk to other people and uh more than most other people would uh in that case and so like it's a lot of communication other people and like I feel like I've learned yeah just a lot a lot of that professionalism and it feels like the most real to life after high school thing that I've experienced which just like uh yeah like Jade was saying just like feeling like you're talking to adults about things that you know about and like and not and uh yeah that's I would say the biggest skill is learning how to be collaborative with others just because a lot of the projects require to meet new people and get into groups so like learning time management how to balance
032each other's time woman and bringing both of our ideas and our visions into the project and just how to balance that honestly. So being collaborative for sure. I also agree with the both of them. I think that they've taught us how to be independent but in a way where you can also collaborate with others. So you're not only basing things off of your ideas and your experiences, but you're learning off of others and you're teaching others while also being able to do your own work. And I also really think that I've learned a lot of leadership from these roles. Like my freshman year, I probably wouldn't be able to tell you the difference between leading and managing, but now I really know the basics of it. And I think also from my CT classes again
033with FFA, I was our secretary for a bit. And being in that role as well really taught me leadership. And also being the greenhouse manager. I've I'm talking to freshman to senior and just tons of kids every day. And I really think that those roles and those opportunities really teach us how to just be leaders and how to deal with different people's uh like things that they need and uh also wants the needs and wants in the correct ways where we can help them grow and not just make them think that we're managing them in a way. Did you talk to my boss? Explain the difference. Um, one skill I'm really proud of is problem solving. During the time that I had to build a robot at 16 hours, um, I had to troubleshoot, adapt
034quickly. Um, and that taught me how to stay calm and find solutions. Uh, well, under pressure, sorry, trying to think of a word. Um, and that's helped me in and out of class, just to be a um, one skill I've learned is definitely teaching other students. Um, it's because of my CTE classes that I'm in the position I am with DECA and being president. And I feel like taking on that role and especially being a senior as well, there's a level of leadership that is expected of you. And it's definitely something I had never experienced before um before coming into DECA. And I feel like especially this year, I've taken on numerous projects and experiences where I've had to lead younger students and show them how to do things and how to handle this club
035after I leave and graduate. And I don't think I would have learned that skill um so thoroughly in high school if it wasn't for my CT classes and being in DECA. And so I think that's definitely what I'm most proud of. Um one skill that I learned was challenging myself. Um cuz in the classes I learn about drugs and it's the drugs are the topics are more related to the society or the public because it's more common to the teenagers my age as well as my close friends. And learning about that topic challenged me in different ways. And does my families, my close families used to do it, I didn't get why um why they were super addicted to it. Um why can't they just stop? That was always my curious questions and learning more
036in depth and got to know the reason why they actually can't get out of it. It's actually really challenging challenging as one skill. Right. So, some of you mentioned this already a bit, but I want to know first off like share what your goal is like what what's that first career for you that you're looking for and then like how did CT help you figure that out that you wanted to do that or that you maybe didn't want to do something else? So, uh Laura, you want to start us off with that one? Yeah. Um so definitely um both of the classes I took or a lot of classes I took uh they actually like helped me get invested into the healthcare. It something that like made me so much interested or um gives or
037like inspires me to go in more in depth and uh find out the secrets behind healthcare and stuff like that. It's more like uh what's it called? like you're solving or like you're trying to find out as you detective or something like that. And it's something that I also find myself enjoying or getting interested in. And with that, I think that or taking these classes actually help me to realize what I want to do with the in the future. Um so now I'm trying to like go into become a radiologist or nurse or anything in the field. I am dedicated like for sure targeting healthcare because it is something that I see myself in the future doing it. Um after high school I will be attending the University of San Diego and I'm majoring in
038marketing and minoring in international business. Um I think for sure my CTE classes have definitely led me to this place. Um, specifically my freshman year when I took personal choices, I again was very drawn to the finance unit, which is definitely not something I'd ever um enjoyed doing before or even thought about doing in middle school. Um, and because of that finance unit, that's what led me to DECA and that's what led me to AP statistics and taking these math courses and just knowing that after I graduate from college, I want to go into marketing analytics and um, classes such as yearbook, like that has definitely drawn me to talk to strangers and students in school that I've never spoken to and branch out and go to games and take photos and interview people and
039it's just that level of public speaking that I would not have reached. And that's also why I am minoring in international business because I want to help people I don't know and I want to travel and branch out and experience new things. And it's because of those classes. It's definitely enhanced my public speaking and ability to talk to strangers and definitely helped me become more outgoing and that's definitely why I'm majoring in minoring in what I am. Um so my CTE classes have helped me figure out that I really want to pursue STEM. I originally wanted to go into science. I thought that for years till I joined robotics and I was like oh my god I don't want to do science I really love robotics um so now I am going to pair techchnical
040institute in the fall that's a trade school and I instrumentation automation and robotics and honestly the CT programs like they gave me the chance to try new things and figure out what I'm passionate about so I'm studying abroad in Oxford with uh PLU in the fall and I've I would say that I've always wanted to go into healthcare. I've always wanted to do some kind of surgery. So, I think that since I was already pretty set on what I wanted to do, that my CT classes helped me take the steps that I needed. Like, um, being in the employment skills contest really helped me just be able to talk to medical professionals and I ended up reaching out to one and even started shadowing one. And I think that these classes just even just give
041us connections because even if you already know what you're doing, you can use like your teachers and just these classes in general to get different connections and different just ideas of ways to reach out and just reach those stepping stones. Like if I would have never taken the employment skills, I don't think I would have chose PLU because they have so many jobs to offer. But I think they also really helped me write my college essay. They also really helped me just again just reach out to people and try new things and just do as much as I could. So, I'm going into marketing and I didn't really find that out till sophomore year. I took intro to business and marketing and the teacher, she really encouraged me to join DECA, but I wasn't like
042too sure. I was kind of weary about it, but it ended up being a good choice for me now. I'm vice president of DEA, but I would say just like finding a career that allowed me to be creative and innovative because that's what I enjoy doing the most. And so my end goal is to work like in corporate and beginning in marketing. But my end goal really is to own a business. So taking IB business uh standard level and then higher level has really given me like a better idea on what I need to do and how I need to lay out a business plan in order to um like create a business. So I feel like going into college and really being able to actually understand how to make a business plan has like
043it's greatly impacted me for sure. So having background knowledge for sure. Uh so after high school I'm going to Western High School I'm going to Western Washington University and I'll be uh going for computer science. Uh but my end goal is to go into communications as well. planning on going into uh multiple technical project management, something in there. Um and uh yeah, I I mean like like you can see with the classes I took like I' I've known like I want to do stuff with computers and that was kind of all I knew going into high school and I'm like I'm going to take all the computer classes. So um but it was through there that like um like I found more like passion like and for like specifics of it and like uh and
044just like the pursuit of just kind of like general knowledge. But it was through um the more social the more social classes like project management and uh kind of digital photo um and I of like um and uh and the robotics club that I want to go into project management and um uh sort of like the commun communications part of it because it was a lot of like as I've gotten like been on the team longer I've been a lot more like organization and like teaching people and like and uh like knowing what the product needs to be in this case a robot. Um, and yeah, I feel like it's been a lot of like discovery of how much I just like talking to people and like I would not I wouldn't have really known
045if I hadn't taken the robotics one class and Van Herk been like, "Hey, you should know robotics." and I did and like and yeah, now here I am and I and I'm been it's robotics have been just such a huge part of my life and it's only through that that like I've known how to how to work on a team properly and not just like how to like know what the project is but like how to communicate with people and like knowing what people need to be able to or like like how they're feeling and like what what they feel the processes to be like how to communicate that because like everyone has different ideas, everyone thinks their ideas correct how to do that. Anyway, um but yeah, no, just been a lot of uh
046yeah, a lot of communication, right? Um so we talked about lots and lots of the like things that are going on. So maybe yeah. All right, there we go. All right. So, uh let's talk about the things that if you had an opportunity to change things or add something um to CTE programs and we got a lot, but if there's something that you would uh feel like would change, what what would you what change would you make or what would you add to it? Maybe you want to start us up. Maybe maybe um you can come back. Yeah. Come back to me. Okay. Um, for me personally, I really love our CTE program and I don't have any issues, but I think a really cool thing could be maybe like a trial and error period
047because there's a lot of kids that I've come across in since I was a freshman and that are in CT classes that just got enrolled because they needed a credit or they just didn't choose a class in time. And a lot of them, you can tell that it's not just that they aren't doing well in the class, you can tell that there's no enjoyment in it. And I think that if there was a trial and error period, maybe like a two week period where they could really see if they like the class, then they could stay or leave. But I think that, well, me personally, I will be honest, in my plant science classes here, there is um a handful of kids that don't really do much, but you can tell that's because they're not
048enjoying it. And you can tell that they have other interests that they would strive in, like much better than in the plant science class. But I think that could be really beneficial to anyone from a freshman to a senior. And I really think that it could also just give them more opportunities instead of placing them in one class that they just are trying to get through the year and they're not trying to expand their interestes. They're not trying to expand um just they're not trying to retain any of the knowledge that the teachers are trying to teach. So it just comes off as oh this person isn't doing anything. Oh, this person just isn't a very well-rounded student. So I think that could be pretty beneficial to CTE program. Yeah. Sorry. All right. Yeah, I
049I completely agree. I think that like something I appreciate appreciate about some of the classes that there is a buy in that like if you might not really know if you're interested at first, but then you get there and you're like, "Oh, this is actually fun." Um, but there is totally like that aspect of it of like for like specifically it's like the curriculum aspect of for example cyber security. I had a lot of fun with it, but I like I know like I was working through it at the same time as uh because it was like the first year that it was uh uh brought up and so like our teacher Bradley like we're both working through it at the same time of like how went through it and so there's a lot of
050like yeah like people took people took the class for the credit which like if someone finds that they have incredible passion for cyber security like that's great but like that doesn't always happen. Uh, and some and I saw a lot of like and I don't know if this is specifically because it's PLT like the PLTW curriculum specifically but like there was a lot of like handholding I guess is the word like through like through this specific curriculum and I know this isn't the whole program but there's what what comes to mind um but yeah there's a lot and oh no yeah and with the entered program the game design there was through that one as well there was a lot of like it would tell you exactly what to for that one like writing the
051code for for like cyber security like it gave you the lesson and and if you sat read it it's like really in-depth and really interesting I loved reading it all about it, but um but you don't need to. And so there was that aspect of of it like uh a lot of it was a lot of just like drag like if you if you didn't do anything it would kind of drag you through the motions and it was with that like yeah what the solution whether it be like a trial and error period or sort of um emphasizing the aspect of like what is to be gained from it and what and that was also like I don't want to fault Mr. Bradley because that was the first year and he didn't know what the
052lesson was. He didn't know what we were supposed to be learning and now we do know what we're supposed to be learning. So like we can like really see see like what is to be gained from that. But like sometimes that just has to be found. So I guess that's a really unspecific answer. But yeah try or whatever. I would say more field trips because well in my business flats we've only taken one so far and it was to Delano's coffee just locally in summer and it was like really cool to see the background of the business. It gave me a lot of just inspiration and like more knowledge and insight into how like a company like that is running behind the scenes. So, I feel like it's one thing to learn in the classroom,
053but for kids to actually get that like real life experience really will stick with them and inspire. Um, mine's kind of branched off. Uh, I would like more trades related programs to be introduced. Um, I didn't really know much about trades until I started taking stuff like aerospace and my dad also works in trades and he was like, "No, you should totally think about this." Because once I was like off the whole I don't want to do science anymore kind of thing and I was like I would rather do something in like STEM. I was like trying to ask around and nobody knew and I was like are you guys kidding me? Like how do I find this information? And so I would love it if we had programs that kind of geared a little
054bit more towards that instead of just here's how you go to college or here's how you go straight to the workforce like a little bit more traits. Um I at first did not have an answer for this question. I really didn't think there was anything that I wanted to change or add, but I loved your answer about the trial and error. I think that is a great idea and it really opened my perspective to the fact that there are numerous students who don't enjoy their CTE classes because not that it's the problem of the class, but that it's a lot of time commitment. It's a lot of projects, collaboration, public speaking, and that's not tailored to a lot of people. But at the same time, we have CTE courses that you don't have to public
055speak as much or work with other kids as much. And I think especially at Bonnie Lake, there's this idea where I just have to get my CTE classes out of the way because we have required courses to take. Um, but I would love more CTE fairs. I know we have job fairs and club fairs and career fairs, but I don't really see as many CTE fairs. And I would love if those teachers and students who love those classes kind of just created a fair for that and it be a required thing at our school during the school day and kids can see um that CTE is not just one type of thing. like there's so many different classes you can take that relate to CTE courses and that they can realize that you don't have
056to just pick one on the schedule to get it out of the way and reach those credits, but you can actually enjoy those classes and enjoy your time in those programs and maybe it'll help you find a career choice in the future. I also had the same idea with Jaden. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I just thought that they should have a lot more CTE where we have just like um cuz I remember I went to the cultural celebration event and there are some events that happen but there's not really much about CT and I don't think a lot of students doesn't know what CTO is for. So people just or the students usually just think that if those classes that you have to get that it's just to graduate but they actually know 100% they behind
057by and it's actually benefits them and they can like gain a lot more experience and it could be an important advantage to them. Something like um CT like to learners or stuff like that could actually benefit. Well that leads perfect segue to our next question here. Um, so if you were going to tell another kid about CTE, what would you tell them? Laura, what would you tell those people at the events? If you were there represent, what would you tell our students? Um, I would say it's definitely worth it. Um cuz I started doing CT class when I was freshman, sophomore, like throughout my high school and it made me realize a lot of experience earlier at the age where I also got to chose my career at the age also have some chances where
058I could change up some. You have a lot of time to think about it and if student wants to ask about how is it, what is it the load worth? Um, I would say it's the same amount of work, but it's actually worth it. You get a lot more understanding, uh, a lot more things that relates to the world where we live in. So, I think it could just it benefits a lot. It would actually help you get grow better. Um, I would again tell them don't treat it like a credit that needs to be filled. Um, a lot of CTE courses are honestly like families because you're with other people who have the same interests as you and it leads to so many different gateways to communities and groups of people. Like it's because
059of my CTE classes that I'm in things such as DECA and ASB and Key Club. Like I met people in those classes who introduced me to those clubs and broader programs because I'm interested in the same things they are. And so when I picked my CT classes, I was very specific on taking classes that I knew I'd be interested in. And I think we just need to remind students to do that and not just to take one because they have to take one because I mean CTU courses have taught me to be a better leader and I've grown in these classes and I've branched out and become more of an exceptional student. And I don't think that if I was back in freshman year, I would think of me being the senior I am now
060if it wasn't for CTE. Um, if somebody's talking about going into a CT class, I would tell them to go for it. CTE classes are hands-on and teach real world skills. They help you explore different careers and help you find out what you're passionate about while also gaining valuable experiences. I would tell someone, again, this is very much a cliche, but I would tell them just to try everything because I've worked from culinary, which is things that we're eating, to soil, which are very opposite sides of the spectrum. But I I'll be completely honest. I could not tell you one bad thing about those classes. I've enjoyed them. And honestly, the worst thing that could happen is you get a good grade in the class and you meet new people. And I would honestly also
061say to join the clubs that your CTE teachers are pushing because if I didn't end up doing FFA, I wouldn't have the chance to go to nationals. I wouldn't learn any of the knowledge that I've gotten on aggra science, on employment skills. I've even done parliamentary procedure and milk quality. So all of that stuff just being from a certain CTE class is really saying something cuz I just would tell these people that it's not just a CTE class. It it's just something that's really going to stick with you for life because I think in 10 years I'll probably bring up FFA again. I'll probably even tell my kids to do FFA and just take a CT class in general. would say my biggest like advice would be to be open-minded because you never know where
062life might take you or like what uh career path you might choose. And I feel like a lot of the answers up here, we didn't originally really want to do that or like we didn't understand it, but we were open-minded to it and it led us down a whole new path. So, I would say just be open. Yeah. Technically, uh yeah, I really like what you said about family. Um, yeah, for sure. That picture up there that yeah, that is my family. That is the robotics. Uh, yeah, I mean I know really well, but it's it's it does feel different because we all want to be there and so that that does what that yeah is what a lot of the um the classes do feel like it does feel like like people want to
063be there like similar interests and uh yeah and then also yeah if I were to say anything like I remember when I was first told about just like about CD classes and people like yeah take them they are fun. I'm like, well, I'm sure a lot of things are fun. Um, but I it does feel like it is it's so much more than that cuz it's it is like a buy in to clubs or to knowing what you really want to do cuz like I would take class be like I'm going to go sit on a computer for the rest of my life. Then I would do and then I went to take classes before like I do not want to do that and like know but now I know that but I know how
064specifically I want to do that. Um, yeah. So it and I I would also I guess emphasize the the flexibility of it all because there are so many different classes. Um, and like I don't know. I guess that's it. Yeah, there there are a lot of different classes. There there is something that you can enjoy and if you don't enjoy it, you'll at least get something out of it. Whether that's just just community and you find out what you don't want to do. Right. I'm going to open the floor because I want to make sure we have time for everybody to ask questions and kind of share. So really questions if there's anything else you wanted to share as well like a little bit more open uh conversation with. Thank you by the way. I
065had goosebumps the entire time. So uh literally like you thank you so open opening well I think maybe I kind of was thinking as as everyone was talking like instead of just peppering you with more questions we could try to formulate a discussion here and I was wondering if the board would would kind of think about after hearing all that like what are your thoughts what are the themes that you heard and kind of what do you wonder about and then maybe that could draw in some answers from them as we kind of think about that so what were your thoughts themes or wonders Where do you want to go? I'll kick a theme off. The theme I heard was that everything classes tie back to the real world. And that's huge. And that that
066puts you years ahead of when we went to school. And talking about doing a business plan, you wouldn't normally do that till econ 101 at college. And you've already have that skill. So that helps kick things off. Well, I like how much they've learned before they go towards college. and where they understand what's about. So, they're going to go somewhere that they enjoy. All these young people have said, I really enjoy doing this. I'm going to do that and we're going to medical and that's so few people know that and they waste time going to college and they start including myself. They all start over again, you know. Well, you may figure out that college isn't for you, right? You know, that right a career trades. I think uh we've talked a lot about graduation
067in this district and getting kids u prepared for the future and I just started jotting down notes that you all said you know I heard passion in and you were inspired you were motivated creative self-directed um enhanced your social skills um personal connections collaborative curious confident risktakers problem solvers making an impact goal oriented um communication and you were highly reflective and I just thought oh my gosh how prepared are these kids, but you know, I it just I mean and I could have written down more. So, um I just was so impressed and um I feel really good about um the programs that are available and keep talking to people and encouraging them more kids to do it because I think it's clearly beneficial. So, thank you for sharing. So, I have a question. So,
068as they enter this program, they can then pick the classes they want the part of they want to do themselves. Yeah. Yeah. So they get to choose the classes that they go into. We we love it when they fall on a pathway and they take a few courses in a row. We've heard of a couple that did that. Then we've heard of a couple that are like, I did a little dabbling and and that benefit also. I think we you said that specific Katie, I know you've been in all the classes. So there's that. Um but then they also get to choose if they want to be a part of the clubs, the extracurricular parts of that as well. So that's those are usually tagged on. So um you know, computer science or robotics, you've
069got a robotics club that you can take what you're learning and go further, right? Or you can do plant science and you can take that further. You can take and get into hosta with health sciences or deco you know like there's that opportunity to extend that a lot of them talked about as well. So you can pick the classes and then you can also pick that uh you know extension as well. So each every CT class has some kind of a plus aspect to it that they can help. That's excellent. What do you think? I'd like you to in this group. though a long time ago in a country far away I was a principal at a high school and I never answered questions. So if this was the eighth grade parents who kids are
070coming to our school I get questions and I turn to said I think quite frankly you guys have working knowledge where I just make things up. Um unfortunately adults have kind of butchered college and career readiness I think. What does that mean to you? because I've heard an array of other people are going to do think they're going to do next, which is absolutely cool. I love that. But if if this was the group and some parents said, "What is college or career readiness?" Could you give them something? Um, I think part of what I think about like CTE specifically and like I said before like the vibe. Um but yeah, sort of like that attitude and aspect of it being more like the real world in the way of one you're talking the vibrating
071people, which you will no matter what to to varying degrees, but I think that aspect of like you're saying like what we want to do in the future. I mean I I feel very strongly that like I I've weeded out like what I want to do, what I don't want to do like through all these different things, but I still don't really know. And I think that that is just part of it. But I do think that part of the the thing that's made me feel the most ready is that I am through through this trial and error. I feel that I am ready to like learn different things, learn more things and be able to like move to something different. Just knowing that wherever I go, I can find something that I can be
072passionate about and like and want to do and like feel like. Yeah. Say like I'm a big believer in It's not really what you do in life, but it's like how you do it. And I feel like the CTE classes prepare like a work ethic and give you more hands-on experience, whether it's resume or like how you conduct yourself or like being collaborative, for example. I feel like if you can learn how to do things, then no matter what you do in life, it's more like impactful and you get the most. So, I feel like being ready for that is good. Thank you. Uh like I said, I do Running Start. So, I go to Pierce. So, I'm at community college with well, for example, I took a sociology class and one of my peers
073was a 50-year-old woman. And I was we ended up we ended up getting into a conversation and I was telling her about my CTE classes and she was talking about how she wishes she could have gotten just people and just classes to prepare her like that because in her cuz she's going to school again and she's just saying she's doing it for fun. she's going through life. But she said that it was just very cool and it's cuz this our generation itself, I feel like we are all a lot more prepared than past generations with the CTE program. And I just can really see the impact of it when I meet these people in my classes cuz like I said, I've had people that are from 50 to just my age, even younger than me,
074like fresh or not freshman, uh juniors that are taking it because I'm a senior now. But I really think that it's cool that I can see the impact of it and that I really am as prepared as I think I am. Even though sometimes I don't feel as prepared, but I can see that what I'm doing for myself is really helping me and it'll really help me in the future. Great. Thank you. Like that kind of all said it all, so I don't know where to go now. Um, well, kind of tagged on. Yeah, I feel like the classes definitely prepare you for what work is going to be like when you get out there. And I even have some classes like corpus aerospace try to simulate exactly what a work environment would be. Um
075so I feel like that's how it kind of gets you prepared for those kind of stuff. So I would say it's definitely worth taking class. Um I feel like most students are scared of graduation and branching off which is a normal response to growing up but I think CTE definitely is comfortable in a sense where it does like help kids know what work life is about. like CTE classes have helped me gain internships and um like experiences that I wouldn't normally get and I would be terrified to graduate next month if it wasn't for CTE because I wouldn't have felt as comfortable as I am now. And so I definitely think to remind students that, you know, growing up is hard and it's scary to leave home. But taking these courses, it definitely prepares you
076a lot a larger extent than just showing up to school and trying to make it to the end of the day. I thought that CP classes are more like courses that are more competitive, but you're in high school. Um, in other words, like let's say it's uh college classes or college courses that you are basically taking high school. um when you are experiencing what it's like to be taking college course but while you're also in high school. Um and then also I feel like it was more like those students who take CTE they can know that if they took it and they realized that they just want to get into real work um instead of going to a foreigner college and go deal with that. they can choose to just go into the real world
077and just you know do a few type of things and then get a certificate when they can start working as soon as possible. um or people within taking the CT class if they can think or choose to go into the four-year college uh because of CTV they have made them um more give them more influence to them which they are more inspired and go to college or university while in the other word or on the other side some students can just oh CT is this is about what work it's pretty easy I can handle it and then they just choose to just go into the reality and face reality I think it's more kind kind of program where it makes students to choose their own path if they want to face the reality as soon
078as possible because they are prepared or if they want to go beyond that and experience that. Thank you. Thank you all. Jamie, did you have any things or wondering you got out of this? Um, a lot. Yeah, I feel I feel like you a lot said. Um, I had a couple I guess I mean one, I was surprised how um I guess I my mind coming in thought that there would be really a track like somebody would start one CTE and and follow that track throughout and and I love the idea fact that there was a lot of ex exploration in multiple different tracks. One of the things that was interesting to me is a lot of the skills that you learned regardless of if it was in robotics or it was in health or
079it was in um you know business were they were a lot of the same skills you're talking about. You're all shaking your head with collaboration. You're all shaking your head with leadership. And I mean there's so many of those types of skills. So, it it it makes me feel like it opens up and prepares you um for wherever you're going to go because you're learning these skills that are are applicable across so many industries, right? So, I think that was really cool. Um I really appreciated the way that you talked about some of the kids that might not enjoy CTE classes and had a reason why and maybe even, you know, a potential solution because um it's great. I think that you all come, you know, the idea of open-mindedness and the idea of kind
080of finding kind of being surprised sometimes that you're exposed to something go, "Wow, I didn't know I was going to like that and I did and and I thought I was going to like this and I didn't." But if you're someone who's in a class and you feel like this just isn't resonating with me and that that's a struggle that that impacts probably everyone and and that you saw that as student leaders and um recognize that and have solutions for that. So those are kind of my thoughts on it. But really great you guys thank you for taking the time. Okay. Clearly these programs are producing people who have really good public speaking skills. Thank you. you sat down across from people you've never met and who are, you know, the adults and spoke really
081really well and really articulated what it is that you loved about CTE or things you thought could be improved. And I I think that's a big takeaway for me is how do we how do we educate students and parents sooner so that it's not a surprise when you get to high school and you're like, "Oh no, I haven't signed up for classes." like now you're thumbming through the the book trying to find stuff. It's what can we do to pull that timeline farther back into middle school or even sooner to start talking about CTE because I know a lot of parents when my daughters went to summer high school that had never heard of it until maybe even their junior year and they oh I got to get that credit done and they don't even
082know what it is like a lot of you said there's checking a box versus we could pull that back and I heard somebody a few of you talk about like um you know CT fairs and maybe seniors are hosting the booths and talking about stuff they're passionate about and that sort of thing. I know we do some of that at the at the you know freshman uh intro nights. Uh I know we do that but like how can we build on that to so it's not so people learn about it much much sooner and and I do think the the key part there is if you get into one like well now you're stuck for the you the rest of that class and if you don't like it and you're not passionate about it it's
083going to be Yeah. Go ahead. Um, I think it would be cuz I think the middle school does something sim similar to advisory like how we do it here. I think if we did something similar to the high school and beyond plan but with like a CTE class like maybe doing your interests, I think that could be beneficial because I have a younger brother. He's a freshman this year and the only reason like they knew about the CTE classes is cuz I took them. But I think if maybe you took a questionnaire like in actually your eighth grade year and you did it throughout the year at little increments, I think that would really be beneficial because these kids are actually going to hear about it and they're going to wonder about it like what's
084plant science, what's culinary, and what are you doing in those classes? And I think that it could help to do stuff like that. And cuz with our high school and beyond plan, um I remember we had to actually do research for and we had to do research for these different jobs and even do a test on like which jobs fit our personalities most and I think that could help some of its question. Um, so in with high school and beyond plan, would there be opportunities to connect CT courses to some of the things that show up as as areas of strength? So that it could be like, oh, you seem to like this type of a career. Here are some of the CTE courses that are offered at the high school that would give you
085experience in that or something to that, but I don't know if we do that or don't. Yeah. So, great things. uh since you guys have all been in middle school and actually the over the last year or so, we've been working on uh re re uh realigning our our middle school uh advisory to be more consistent across the board for all three of our middle schools and then also include some of those things. So, it's it's a Washington state requirement to do that from seventh grade and up now and it wasn't necessarily before and it was kind of a mixed bag. Um but we are defin doing both of those things. So, we've got a little bit. They actually take the survey and they're doing some of those things similar to what you're doing. And
086then they're also they have an opportunity where they're connecting with specifically we try and highlight the ninth grade classes that are available to them, but also the pathways that are available. And so, some of the the tools and documents that we've created over time um they're getting exposed to those earlier. And I know our middle school principles and counselors have spoken really highly about how that's landing. Um, and then also, you know, students are more prepared and choosing classes for the right reasons, not because like, hey, I'm friends with Tate. I'm going to take that class because he said so. It's more of like, oh, I really am I love to do work with my hands, so I'm going to go and drill and rivet, right? Manufacturing sounds awesome. Or I I love to do
087business and I think I want to do, you know, and so we're getting more of that. And it's still work in progress. I'm not going to say it's perfect by any means, but those features that you were both kind of mentioning are we're working we're building them up. So yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Should kind of like whip both those things because Yeah. I've heard a lot of like most people. Do you know what that is? Uh is the camera? It is. And so it tracks who's talking. So it's looking at you right now. Um, so yeah, I've heard a lot of stuff of like uh people are very confident in the program and uh stuff about yeah having like a CT fair and like we already do the survey and then like with that
088like I was saying with the um when I kind of stumbled through the like cyber security and like knowing what that is sort of just the general thing of like uh advertising what are the classes specifically because I know when I was told like what cyber security was my that's my dad's job is information security um so I I kind of knew what that was. I'm like, "Oh, this is interesting." And then I see the class and I'm like, "So, this is I have no idea what they knew this is. I don't like what it's supposed to be." And no one no one really did. And it was the first year, but like I guess it would be more people uh knowing what the classes are specifically because if you look at the robotics class
089like okay, you'd go and do do robotics. What is that? It's like that is specifically like building certain things and then like I which is like if you look at it and it's like computer stuff. Oh, computer robotics. It's specifically like 3D modeling things like very different. So I feel like specifics of what each class is and advertising what those like what those things are like what those skills might be I feel would be important because like obviously going to do things and like not knowing what the class is going to entail and then finding that you love whatever it is is great but then it's like if you finally go there and find you don't you have no idea what it was don't really like it then you know like being or else also
090like being able to pursue a specific skill that you wouldn't realize that you would find you wouldn't realize that you would find communication in the digital photo class that's Yeah, love always. This program's continuing to grow over the years, too. It's just been really great to watch and see it develop. I know I didn't know a whole lot about it, but six years ago, I'm like, "Kids, you're going to do CT." And they're like, "Why?" I'm like, "Well, because we had a board presentation that sounds really awesome, not just and just to watch it grow and continue to expand." And have you guys here tonight has just been it's just a treat for us. So, thank you for all your time and energy and the ways you spoke about your programs. It really does help
091us um be more informed of of what's going on and and the programs we have. So, talk about marketing, you know, this and I pointed to the camera. This is being recorded. So, we because we always post these meetings online after on board. So, it's it'll be an asset, a marketing asset that you could probably use, be able to help advertise, pull some snippets of the things that you've all said tonight, and that'll help the the students behind you because I do think that's that is this the servant leadership thing that we do in this district is try to leave it better for the next group that's coming along and and always improving things for people behind you. Very beneficial. I really appreciate. Is there any other thoughts or just we said before I'm impressed
092with these young people have gone through this program they're leaving here I want to go do this I'm going to go here and do this you know they have a plan for next year and the year beyond and so many don't do that it's and it's such a unique opportunity they have hands-on such different programs so really suits their their desire yeah it's going to be calculations or helping their health build or doing robotics which who's your field and stuff opportunities that they are seeing that's right for them and they like to do that. Yeah. I think sometimes it's easier to eliminate. It's easier to eliminate things you don't like than to try to find that one thing you do like. And I I heard somebody say it where they've actually they've learned the skill
093through CT of identifying what they don't like very quickly. I think that's the I think that's the key as parents who are paying for college right now. you want your you want your students to figure it out rapidly instead of you know being in college for six seven eight years well and even before that you certainly didn't sleep your way through high school right like it sounds like you thoroughly enjoyed some of your classes in high school and so making the most of that experience you know anything you do above and beyond that after you graduate is just boldness um that's what we hope for but to know that you're taking advantage of things in high school and having a really rich experience during your four years I think that is just a gift. I
094think that's amazing. So, well done, John. Yeah. Thank you for being here. This has been very helpful. Glad you came tonight. But as I talk here next week, you want to come back. We're here everybody on the stage. On the stage. Congratulations. Yeah. Thanks, guys. Thanks for being here. And as they uh exit the meeting, is there any real Well, I have something and I don't know if you know about, but Dr. has been very helpful learning the history and going to different schools, putting different department, what they're involved with. I understand where she's got that from. Does our do that involves so many things? and on on the Facebook and different places that we've done. But recently, I'm not sure I want to see this. Oh, yeah. I saw a picture that I thought
095should be catity. Okay. as our cam camel counselor. Yes. Thank you. We're on the track. Absolutely. Appreciate it. Congratulations. Appreciate that. We'll have to show this again. There she goes. Oh my god. It says, "From budget meetings to blades of grass, the camo counselor does it all." This was so much fun. I was going to bring this up next week because Dave C will be there. But these our grounds crew, I'm telling you, they are incredible human beings and just wonderful workers. And just to work with them for a few hours gives me a whole new appreciation for what they do. So, well, yeah. With me going around the district, see what's going on, it makes opened my eyes awful lot, too. I appreciate that. Thanks, Tom. You're welcome. I was impressed when you drove
096off the trailer. I was like, "Yeah, that is like that's a that's like a trust fall." Have you put they were they were they took care of me though, you know. No serious accidents. So, looking forward to talking about it again because we can't talk about them. Yeah. Thank you. Cool. Any other board discussion tonight? Um, so one of my or in life is um, status quo for no reason drives me crazy. So at least have discussions. When I came to the district, we didn't have board meetings or anything on Wednesdays. That was church. Did it once because it was the only day of the week we could fit something in. A tongue lashing from Dr. Ivik was not fun. But um I would like at some point if we could have a discussion of
097what night works best with um and I I mean we just have Wednesdays but I don't know that it's the best for for all of us. So I'd love to throw that out there and like I said maybe not tonight but yeah just just kind of planting the seed for thought on that or Yeah. It worked well in my past throw out the scene have some discussion. Yeah. Yeah, I'd be curious to know like my wondering on that would be like is consistency better? Is rotation consistency or isation mean chaos? My my question is more just the day for everybody. And like I said, there's no rhyme or reason that we went to Wednesdays. I still hurt when I think of meeting on a Wednesday. He was a lovely man coming. Yeah. So if we
098could do that, that'd be great. Yeah, I think maybe we could all leave tonight and start thinking about that and then we could bring it up at the next study session to see if anybody feels strongly or neutral or there's a better day in the week that better and of course balance that with what that would be conducive for the administration. Part of what in in my thought was um Lor's crew, I know that her she has a a cycle that they have to have things done and then you know she goes through it that and it's presented to us and they move on to the next one. I honestly thought just from their standpoint being able to use their time effectively maybe having at least five minutes on the weekend if we move to
099Tuesdays. there's as I just chose one but right but like how yeah like you're saying how does the prep how does the prep land within they have their jobs that they have to and then prepping for these is kind of like extra work it's part of the job trust me it's part of the job I could see it being that the extra part and what part of the week would it fit better into any day but Monday or Friday yeah Monday or Friday. Totally spend Friday nights with you, but like Yeah. Yeah. If we could stay away from Mondays or Fridays. And my only other request would be that if we could make this decision no later than June. Well, I say sooner than later because we'll start the calendars out. The calendar, our new
100board calendar will start in September. Um and yeah, any day but Monday or Friday. Yeah. And if we could know by June so we could change all the dates. As you know in body lake boys have a Tuesday that seem to work well for us because the paper came out with all our weekend Monday. It's so it's fresh in our mind. It's not dragging out when we want to talk about our means. So that's a that's a good day also Tuesday or Wednesday for me. We talk about later but that's Tuesday is a good really good day. Y we'll continue that conversation. Any other any other tons here tonight? I I just so appreciate um one dedication of so many people over the years to get where we are with CTE and things that that
101this district has tried that didn't work, but that was okay. I mean, that's how we learned and grew. and um I think listening to the kids from studying at Oxford which I can't relate to um to you know I'm going to I know I'm going to do this. One of the things I so enjoyed the second gentleman when he talked about learning to learn and that because we know I mean it's been hammered for those of us that work with kids for 20 30 years now that you know I got into a career because I was either going to be according to my counselor I was going to be a nurse or a a nurse or a firefight that neither one of those work. Um, but we know that that they right now can say,
102"This is what I'm going to do." And there's the greatest opportunity that they're going to actually be changing their careers 8 to 10 times. Yeah. And all of those kids demonstrate those skills that quite frankly just exude the fact they're going to be successful. I would say 98% chance because of those skills and the thoughts, thought processes. Do I believe the cyber security that's all you're going to do the rest of your life? Probably not because it's all going to be taken over by some way smarter computer. But I but he's be ready to go to the next step. The next step next step. I just so appreciate all of so thoughtful that. But um I just think of all the way down to you guys don't even know that Ron Mungry when I first
103came to this conference visionary different gentleman but visionary about that and then you know Sharon so we've just progressed but it's it's interesting because those people didn't overlap but it has been such a sequential progression to get to where we're at now and I know where Erin and folks are going to take it next is So, so I mean that's 37 years now for me of watching it roll like this and it's it's just no better than Well, I think that's it's a it's a good problem that we now have this foundation. Now we're like, how do we just tell more people about it? How do we get ahead of it? And how do we fine-tune these little things? Like when they're talking about, well, what if you get into a class you don't end
104up being passionate? What do you do? And I think we're in a really good spot that that's our problem, right? like we don't have the problem of creating the classes and I I can see the future of so many more different classes and things we can keep adding but there's at least a good core group there I would say part about the classes and try it for two weeks talk to your high school principal you may have suicide watch going on soon the other is it's interesting I think the junior highs over the last 10 years have done such a better job each and every year of the education for kids the problem is these folks buy in. You have juniors and seniors of high school that don't have a buy in. And one of
105the things that it frustrates the heck out of the adults on that campus is how much we talk, we show, we do, we videotape, we do. And it's it's it's individualized when it clicks with you. And I've had some kids that come back, you know, five years afterwards after graduation say, "Gosh, I really wish I would have done this." I said, 'D did you don't know about? Yeah, but my friends didn't do it, so I didn't. So, yeah. But, uh, I loved it trying out art. J term was always one of my visions of life for high school until you talk to auditors and people fun schools and things like that who said, "No, you can't." But uh that that just got little hives built up because it's such a great idea. I just don't
106know how the heck legally do it. I mean I think that that was my first thought. I'm like oh it sounds like a great idea but to have all these students two weeks in a class they go okay if you don't like it okay everybody switch and then what happens like they don't like it in the next option right it's called field day. Yeah. So I thought, you know, great idea, probably not very practical, but are there ways that we can and and again a lot of it is, you know, ability of of the kids of taking a look at what those classes are, what what are you going to learn? Is it something that you're interested in? Um I mean, one of the you know, one of the young men that said, you know,
107it's about mindset, right? So I mean it's it's how you al that mindset of like this might not be the thing but how valuable it is to learn that I don't like that. Um I mean the the one who the young man who would wanted to do cyber security thought he was going to sit at a at his computer and got into that and said yeah no and all and realized through other explorations that he actually really liked working with other people and doing other things. Right. But there's that you have to be somebody who has that mindset to to not just go gh I hate this and I don't want to put time into it but I what is it that I like how do I want to engage um do I want to
108take you know the extra do the extra things that actually make the work interesting right so those extra classes the extra clubs and the extra things that that then take it uh to the next level but um So I I think jumping classes after a trial period is probably not the way to go, but really how do we have that ability to to think about helping the kids to make that decision more thoughtfully, I guess, and then also helping them understand that if they made the wrong one that there's still benefits to be had from it, right? And and I think again some of those benefits like you know I said across all of those different experiences some of the soft skills about how to just manage yourself and work together and do all these
109things. I mean if if anybody could come out with just those uh there's so much more. The hard part for the adult ego is the kids talking to kids. That's what sets it. Yes. is I mean just flat out all the adults in the world even the most loved. Yeah, there's still that. And the hard part too is some of the the extra things they they do which is part of being with CTE. You have some families who can't I have to go home and babysit because my mom's got to go work right here. I've got to do got to do a job to help support my family and and so it's horrible because you kind of get excluded because you have to have that level of which is awesome but so it's how can
110we help I guess. That's part I'm trying to figure out how can you Yeah. But also Yeah. But very cool practice. Well, I appreciate the fact we're being we're talking about fine tuning. We're not sitting here talking about all blowing the whole thing. Oh my god, that was a terrible presentation and we need to start all over. It's the fact that we're thanks to all the people who have worked so hard on this that we're talking about fine-tuning. Well, and add to it the our access to Pierce County skill set. Yeah. And then I mean that's just that's huge. Yeah. Other programs but our the robotics the I mean the stuff we heard about we have just unbelievable instructors. Incredible. Anybody have any other topics or closing thoughts? Okay. Should we call it? All right.
111We're journed. Miss