I am very proud to join the

students and staff as the new

principal of the Career and Tech-

nology Center (CTC) West Cam-

pus. This is a very exciting time

for Career and Technical Educa-

tion (CTE) in DeSoto County and

in the State of Mississippi. Gone

are the days of “Vo-Tech” and the

stigma that was once attached to

that name. CTC West campus

offers a variety of rigorous pro-

grams that are preparing stu-

dents to meet the needs of the

21st century workforce.

Anne Rappaport recently pub-

lished 6 facts about the CTE pro-

grams in her article, “Not Your

Daddy’s Vo-Tech.” I have listed

her 6 facts along with information

that pertains to the students

enrolled in our programs.

CTE is not a “funnel” for lower

track students.

The population of CTE students

reflects the population of stu-

dents found at all of our high

schools and in the community.

Some of our students will go on

to be Valedictorian, Salutatorian,

and Honor Graduates at their

high schools.

CTE is demanding and rigor-

ous.

Many CTE texts have college-

level difficulty. Certification and

professional licensing exams

require intensive study as well as

class hours and practice.

CTE students receive college

preparation.

The students in all programs

are eligible to receive college

credit through articulation agree-

ments with the community col-

leges in the State of Missis-

sippi. Students scoring 80% or

above on the C-PAS2 (CTE State

Test) may receive college credit

We are off to a great start this school year. Enrollment has in-creased 100% from last school year! Our hope for this newsletter is to promote the Career & Tech-nical (CT) programs in DeSoto County. We want everyone to realize the value CT programs are to ALL students..

Amazing things are happening in Career-Tech Education in De-Soto County. We now offer the Teacher Academy program at the west campus. Robin Avant, in-structor, is doing a remarkable job getting the program started! We are thrilled with the opening of the Career-Tech Center East. The move to the new facility is scheduled for mid October. Hopefully, by the next issue of

this newsletter, the new center will be up and running.

Recruiting will begin the next nine weeks and continue through February. I will visit each DeSoto County high school and introduce our programs to 10th grade stu-dents.

We hope you enjoy reading about all the things our students are learning in our programs. We are very proud of the hard work our students and staff put forth each day.

Counselor Connection by Stephanie Young

Auto Service Technology by Rob Hardin

The Automotive Service Tech-

nology Class has been busy in the

classroom and in the shop. Mr.

Hardin is fortunate to have over

30% more students this year.

There is a diverse student base,

with an increase of non-

traditional female students.

All students learn the basic

fundamentals and theory of me-

chanical systems operations.

Then it is out to the shop to get

hands-on training. Most students

have never touched anything

mechanical so this is a real-life

experience that they will remem-

ber.

October 19, 2012 Volume 1, Issue 1

D E S O T O C O U N T Y S C H O O L S

Career-Tech Times

STAFF

Principal—Paul Chrestman Assistant Principal—Susan Cascio CTE Counselor—Stephanie Young Student Services —Glenda Chapman Student Services-Theresa Oglesby Bookkeeper—Karen Kelly MSIS Clerk—Debbie Jarman Maintenance—Jay Stafford Auto Service Tech—Rob Hardin Construction Tech—Justin King Digital Media—Teri Lynn Hubbard Early Childhood Ed—Tammy Brewer Health Sciences—Donna Chrestman Information Tech—Cathy Graves Metal Fabrication—Jason Gresham Teacher Academy—Robin Avant

From the Desk of Paul Chrestman, Principal

if they enroll in the same career

pathway at the community college.

CTE students have considerable

college options.

There are many different career

pathways in each program of-

fered. The CTC instructors are pre-

paring students to attend four-year

universities, community colleges,

and technical schools.

CTE students benefit financially.

Earnings of CTE graduates and

certificate holders frequently help

finance post-secondary degrees,

allowing students increased mobility

and advancement within their fields.

This gives them an edge in a chang-

ing career world. According to a

Harvard study, more than one

fourth of adults with certificates and

post-secondary licenses earn more

than the average bachelor’s degree

recipient.

CTE preparation doesn’t pi-

geonhole students.

CTE students have strong atten-

dance rates and are engaged in

their learning. In addition to work-

place expectations, resume/

portfolio-building and interviewing,

they learn “soft skills” that serve

them well, whether in college or the

working world.

Metal Fabrication by Jason Gresham

The students have been busy

learning all about safety in Metal

Fabrication. Special thanks to John

Hubbard of Farm Bureau as he

presented a video on industrial

and worksite accidents. This was a

real eye-opener for all!

Once all students were able to

master safety objectives, we

moved into the shop. Students

were taught all about the safety

and operation of the oxy-acetylene

torch. I also introduced basic weld-

ing techniques, SMAW (Shielded

Metal Arch Welding), or stick weld-

ing. Next nine weeks will be very

eventful…stay tuned for more.

We have had an exciting and eventful first nine weeks. Even though we have been busy learn-ing all about safety in the lab and working on the National Center for Construction, Education and Research (NCCER) core curricu-lum, we have still managed to squeeze in some projects. I al-ways enjoy seeing the students

put to use the skills we have learned in the classroom. We built benches for the Southaven Softball team dugouts. We have also been working on building birdhouses and have begun build-ing doghouses. They are works in progress. We are excited about our ser-vice project this year. Our pro-

gram is asking for donations for materials to build a handicap accessible hunter's deer blind. We will donate the blind to a charita-ble organization. This is a way for our students to give back to their community. Students and parents are excited about the project be-cause it is such a worthy cause!!

our preschoolers. Third block has been learning how to introduce/play learning games with our preschoolers. First & second year students completed a unit on Orientation, Personal & Professional Prepara-tion. First year students com-pleted a unit on Health & Safety where they had to create a menu for preschool age children for a week using the MSDH guidelines. Second year students are working

Early Childhood Education is off to a great start this year. They had journals, calendars, preschool art & pictures of what they do in the lab with the children each week. They are working on creating resumes & cover letters to place in their portfolios as well. First block has been learning how to perform circle time activities with our preschool children. Second block has been learning how to choose books & read stories to

Construction Technology by Justin King

Early Childhood Education by Tammy Brewer

Digital Media Design by Teri Lynn Hubbard

puters. Second year students have had the excitement of working in the style of Andy Warhol by creat-ing artwork in his style in Photo-shop. In order to learn more about the ethical content relating to graphics design, we have cre-ated posters breaking as many of the rules as possible to add some

humor to the topic. After all, you can’t break a rule if you don’t know it! We ended this nine weeks with photography, working to capture images in motion or “stop time” as we like to say. Eve-ryone is very excited about the next nine weeks and the start of Flash.

This nine weeks we have been covering safety, as well as ethics, and began working with photog-raphy. The past few weeks we have discovered how to enhance images as well as manipulate them. We have created our inner computer selves using Photoshop and various pieces of Apple com-

Page 2

Career-Tech Times

Health Sciences by Donna Chrestman

Interesting Facts:

There are now more women in the labor force than men.

Statistics show that most jobs are found by reply-ing to classified ads in the newspaper.

The more CTE courses a student takes, the less likely they are to suffer periods of unemploy-ment.

Availability of certain jobs varies widely by location.

There are more workers in the service providing industries than in the goods producing indus-tries.

U.S. needs 34% more stu-dents in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) in order to meet economics demands.

13,000 people with 4 year degrees have re-entered Mississippi Community Colleges to gain job skills.

Participation in CTE programs increases wages, probability, and consistency of employ-ment and leads to higher quality jobs.

Mrs. Susan Cascio, Assis-tant Principal and Mr. Paul

Chrestman, Principal

My second year students are preparing to go to the hospital clinicals. All shots need to be up to date and a TB skin test must be done. We are exploring the Laboratory and Imaging careers available to them. My first year students have finished the Health Care Systems and Health Care

Career Units and are now learning the basics of medical terminology and medical abbreviations. The year is off to a GREAT start!!! Great Students!!!

Cascio Connection by Susan Cascio

The renovation of the pre-

school playground is underway!

Our goal is to secure a safe, amia-

ble, recreational environment for

our sweet pre-schoolers. Our

hope is, by mid-fall, all amend-

ments will have been made, re-

sulting in the culmination of a

beautiful recess area! We will

keep you abreast of our continu-

ing, dedicated efforts to create

this wonderland for our pre-k

children.

on creating learning activities and thematic lesson plans. Students will perform the learning activity in the preschool lab. We are also very excited about our new curriculum from Learning Box Preschool. This month in preschool we are learning about Community Workers, pumpkins, orange, black, rectangle, 3, P, H, O. Stay tuned for what we will be learning next!

Academy).” Teacher Academy

students are learning both in the

classroom and through field ex-

perience at Greenbrook Elemen-

tary and the on-site Early Child-

hood Daycare. One day a week,

TA students go out to observe

and assist classroom teachers.

Southaven High School TA

student, Kenzye Murden, summed

up how she feels about Field Ex-

perience by saying, “Every time I

leave (Greenbrook), I cannot wait

to go back.” For DeSoto Central

High School student, Hayley Mor-

gan, the thing that stands out

Teacher Academy is a new

program at CTC this year. De-

signed to help prepare future

teachers and other educators, the

program has been a lot of fun for

the instructor, Robin Avant, and

her students. “We do everything a

classroom teacher has to do.

Students are learning how to

design lessons, manage students,

create projects, and organize

materials,” Mrs. Avant said.

Her students agree. Southaven

High School TA student, Jordan

Baker, said, “Things can get hectic

in the class some times. Time

goes by extremely fast (in Teacher

most about Greenbrook is con-

necting with individual students;

“This was my favorite lesson thus

far,” she said.

On October 19, TA students will

assist Southaven Intermediate

School with a 5th grade Science

Fun Day to help prepare students

for the MCT science test. During

the day, TA students will work 30

hands-on science stations. “I am

very excited about this opportu-

nity. We get more experience,

and people get to see what

Teacher Academy is all about. It’s

a Win-Win,” Mrs. Avant said.

Teacher Academy by Robin Avant

Information Technology by Cathy Graves

edge, kindness, and willingness to help others will be greatly missed. We know she will continue to be an advocate for career-tech edu-cation. On Friday, October 19th, we will welcome Sean McMackin as our new Information Technology instructor. We know his experi-ence and skills will benefit our students. We look forward to hearing from him next nine weeks. Welcome, to Career Tech West, Mr. McMackin!

Mrs. Cathy Graves will be join-ing the IT department with De-Soto County Schools on October 19th. She has been a wonderful asset to our center. Her knowl-

Page 3

Volume 1, Issue 1

Teacher Academy students assist with the Science Fun Day held at Southaven

Intermediate School

Pictured from left: Ms Hubbard, William Bartley, Hunter Gatlin and Ms Graves

This summer, four stu-

dents from the CTC West

traveled to San Antonio to

compete in the National

FBLA (Future Business Lead-

ers of America) competition.

Brandon Howell from De-

soto Central competed in

the category of Computer

Problem Solving. Ric Ghet-

tie of Hernando High

School competed in Net-

working Concepts. Will

Bartley from Lewisburg

High School and Hunter

Gatlin from Desoto Central

High School competed in

the Digital Video Produc-

tion Category.

William Bartley and

Hunter Gatlin placed 8th in

the nation for the produc-

tion of their video on the

dangers of texting and driv-

ing.

Mrs. Graves’ 3rd block students dressed for Spirit Day

DIGITAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGY

Outstanding Students for First Nine Weeks

Phone: 662.393.6211

Fax: 662.393.5708

www.desotocountyschools.org/ctcw

D E S O T O C O U N T Y S C H O O L S

Career-Tech Center

847 Rasco Road

Southaven, MS 38671

Follow us on Twitter@CareerTechWest

and @DCS_CTCounselor

DeSoto County School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, age or handicapping conditions and is an equal opportunity employer.

TEACHER ACADEMY

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

HEALTH SCIENCES

METAL FABRICATION

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY

AUTO SERVICE TECHNOLOGY

William Bartley Senior

Lewisburg

Kaitlyn Martin Junior

Southaven High

Ashauntia Smith Junior

Southaven

Taylor Story Senior

Southaven

Hannah Barulli Sophomore Southaven

Caitlyn Purvis Senior

Desoto Central

Justin Davis Sophomore

Desoto Central

Kasey Wooten Junior

Hernando

Josh Karas

Junior Hernando