At the Career and Technology Center (CTC), you’ll find students working on mastering career-specific skills. Whether it be in a classroom, a lab, or a kitchen, each student is in their chosen program, starting at Agri-Business and ending at the Teaching Academy. If you look closely, you find those in the Criminal Justice program wearing boots, yelling “attention,” and learning all about law enforcement. You can also find those in the Biomedical Science program wearing lab coats and learning all about the human body. You quickly learn how each and every program is unique. From varying uniforms, the teachers, and the material taught, there’s a wide variety of career training opportunities at CTC. Let’s take a look at what some Walkersville students are up to at CTC:
Sara Martinez, a sophomore, is part of the Physical Rehabilitation program at CTC. Students usually join this program when interested in careers within sports medicine and physical and occupational therapy. “We basically learn about different muscle movements and stretches that help people’s recovery after injury and help them regain mobility,” Martinez said. She explained more about her personal goals and experiences in the program, starting off with why she joined: “I’ve always liked the medical profession and I thought physical rehab was perfect because I don’t think it’s as intense as others.” The Physical Rehab program is one of many Academy of Health Profession programs at CTC, but Martinez believes her program is uniquely special. She finished off her interview by saying, “We get close to our peers which I feel like you wouldn’t get to do in different programs because we get to practice on other people.” Ultimately, the Physical Rehab program is super instructive, where students get to learn about physical rehabilitation and practice that knowledge while at the same time creating close bonds with classmates who share the same interest and passion as you.
Every program has its own field-specific curriculum that the students practice. It can go from building parts of a house or to producing a film. Clark Bailey, a junior, is part of the TV Multimedia program: “We learn the essentials of film production, like framing, filming, filtering, and editing techniques,” Bailey says. It’s perfect for those who want to be part of the audio and video production world, which is the exact type of field Bailey wants to pursue. The program allows students to earn an Adobe Premiere Pro Associate Certification and compete for student Emmys. Bailey believes it allowed him a head start and his first steps into the field, even recounting one of his projects: “I was the most proud of one of our first projects titled ‘A,’ because it was my first good piece of media from the class with much better angles and lighting than other projects before it.”
Sophomore, Cole Berkey, is part of the Carpentry program where they also work on many projects. Carpentry students work on building an actual house, along with the Electricity and HVAC programs. However, before being a part of the construction process, the students must learn the material and skills needed to properly do so, Berkey shared. He explained, “My program is about teaching people how to do almost everything construction and carpentry based; it sets them up with good skills for after high school and one of them is wood working.” He explained the process of learning these skills: “We had a project where we were framing a small wall, and I had to quickly learn how to make supports and do the math to have the correct angles.” All together, Berkey enjoys being a part of his program. He shares his overall appreciation for being able to practice his skills at a real job site and being able to learn more about construction and get those certifications that help him with his future career.
There are more programs that are about designing, like the Aerospace Engineering program, of which a couple of WHS students are a part. The Aerospace program revolves around learning about the design of flight vehicles and exploring the physics of flight and space. Sophomore, Cash Ritchie, talked about his interest in aerospace: “I’m interested in learning about the dynamics of planes, along with the engineering of jets and their mechanics, because I’m thinking of being an aviation mechanic and technician for the military,” he said. Junior, Carl Mbella, is also in the program, but he wants to work in engineering in the future. He also described a project they had to complete: “We recently made a starbursts launcher, so we could launch starbursts. It got really far, like over 15 yards, and I’m really proud of it because it was an effort I made with my teammates.” Like the other programs, it goes back to the things specifically taught in the programs at CTC that give you a head start in your career.
The Teacher Academy is another program at CTC that focuses a lot on academics. “In the program we learn about teaching strategies, classroom management, lesson planning, and lifespan development. We also get hands-on experiences by observing and working in real classrooms that helps us understand what teaching is like day-to-day,” said Isabella Barreto, a sophomore in the program. She’s interested in becoming an educator and having a career that can give students a good education, ultimately feeling like this program was the right place to start. “I hope to gain a strong foundation in educational theory and teaching practices while improving on skills like communication, leadership, and organization. And I hope this program helps me prepare for college-level education courses,” said Barreto. This program has been noted to be successful by the internships it offers and the resumes it begins to build. Barreto even mentioned that she’s already noticed a difference in herself: “The program teaches you so much about professionalism and I treat my school life so much more differently making me just a better student in general.”
Moving onto another unique program at CTC, Eva O’Hara, a junior who is part of the Cosmetology program, shares that her program has a curriculum full of teaching how to do hair, nail, and skin treatments. “I love doing hair, I’ve always thought being a stylist would be a lot of fun and with being in the program I feel like I’m able to learn so much,” said O’Hara. The program is built to have students prepared to pass the Maryland-State Board of Cosmetology Examination which makes it super unique, because a student’s second year of the program involves being there the whole school day working in a salon, to meet the requirements for the exam. O’Hara finds it to be worth it since by passing the exam, you’ll get a cosmetology license right out of high school, she shared. Along with the benefits for her career, she admires the community she’s made: “You get the chance to build a community and make solid friendships and connections that you wouldn’t be able to make otherwise,” says O’Hara.
After Walkersville High students arrived at CTC, they began building their own separate communities. They met fellow students from all over Frederick County, bonding over their shared passions while also taking the first steps towards their future careers. When leaving the Career and Technology Center, the students begin to part ways: some heading towards their internships, others sharing their new knowledge with their friends, and more heading back to Walkersville to continue being a Lion.
