To mark National Career and Technical Education Month, Homewood City Schools is putting the spotlight on its Career and Technical Education programs, which serve students in the sixth through 12th grades.
Homewood Middle School offers the career technologies, teen connections and teen discovery programs. Homewood High School offers the food and consumer sciences and the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs.
Mary Gardner, a seventh-grader at Homewood Middle, said she selected the communication and engineering courses taught by Lovie Crawford to learn more about technology, to have fun making things like signs, bridges and air-brushed T-shirts and to be able to take video production.
“I learned that technology is not just using electronic devices; it is using all types of tools to create things we need and want. I also learned about different careers and what skills and attitudes you need to get the job you want,” Gardner said.
Luciano Villa, an eighth-grader at Homewood Middle, said he learned employability skills in Briana Morton’s class.
“She really drilled those into our head and how those skills are necessary for any job. She also taught us that we have to be more responsible–responsible in school, in our personal lives and as future employees,” Villa said.
Jenna Sakawi, a sophomore at Homewood High, is a student of Master Sgt. Vincent Simmons. Sakawi said the AFJROTC program has taught her about discipline, respect and how to maintain a positive attitude.
“It has taught me how to be responsible and how it’s important to be able to work with others. We would not be able to complete a marching routine without working together,” Sakawi said.
She selected the course because she wanted to know more about the military, she said.
Jawan Jackson, a Homewood High senior, said he has been inspired by Meagan Malone’s fashion class.
“I have learned how the fashion industry works and all the requirements it will take to be successful. By taking fashion, I know what to expect and have prepared myself for great success,” Jackson said.
School officials said the purpose of Career and Technical Education is to help students identify their career interests, aid them in the development of employability skills that will serve them in any career and support them in academic planning for the secondary and post-secondary levels that will equip them with the credentials they need for their career choices.
