B-E Hoping to Grow CTE Program by Expanding Resources
By Sydney Hoffman on March 4, 2019
After a business invitation Career and Technical Education (CTE) banquet at the A1 Al’s Pheasant Lodge Jan. 24. B-E’s CTE program followed up with a CTE open house Tuesday, Feb. 26, 5-6:30 p.m. in the Emery multi-purpose room and CTE department classrooms open to all B-E students, parents and community members. The tours of currents CTE classrooms along with mingling took place from 5-6 p.m., and the open public forum took place from 6-6:30 p.m.
This open house showcased the achievements of students in CTE courses, FCCLA and FFA along with by highlighting the 100 out of 112 students enrolled in CTE courses and illustrating the success of our FCCLA and FFA chapters. This success includes the following:
FCCLA- current chapter enrollment: 34 high school students and 22 middle school students
5 teams (8 students) advanced to National STAR Event competitions or their service projects
1 National FCCLA Officer
1 State FCCLA Officer
5 State Leadership team members
2 State Healthy Youth Summit team members
9 Region FCCLA Officers
“Since I have been teaching at this school, I have had five teams and eight individuals qualify and attend the National FCCLA Convention based off of their service projects within their STAR Events. Right now, however, these successful students combine much of their FCCLA project workspace with the kitchen in my classroom. It would be beneficial for my students to have a separate kitchen and classroom so that the kitchen materials can stay in the kitchen, and the classroom and FCCLA materials can stay in a safe classroom anyway from potential stains and destruction,” FACS teacher and FCCLA advisor Frankie Nelson said.
FFA- current chapter enrollment: 56, after starting with 16 members in 2010
1 National FFA CDE team
59 State Degrees- highest honor a senior FFA member can receive
1 State FFA Officer
3 SD State Proficiency Award Winners
3 SD State Proficiency Award Finalists
1 State Star Agribusiness finalist
2 students as first place winner in their spring CDE events at State FFA
7 District FFA Officers
“My biggest struggle in class is trying to find the space to hold Career Development Event team meetings or short FFA meetings. The CDE’s are hands-on that include many parts to the competition illustrating the need for more space to allow for more success in those events. The lack of space in my room also doesn’t allow much room for labs either. The largest class size I have taught in my small classroom consisted of 24 students,” Agriculture teacher and FFA advisor Karen Roudabush said.
Tours of the current CTE facilities were often given to demonstrate the need for a bigger, more useful space. The overall goal of the open house was to inform the Bridgewater and Emery community members, students, parents and businesses about current course offerings while displaying student learning and discussing goals for the future.
B-E CTE departments want to provide high-quality instruction with industry-current, safe facilities to enhance student learning. In doing so, they would create workspaces that reflect the environment students will work in throughout their careers. Within those spaces, provided equipment and tools will be like that which is used in the industry.
“Having taken FACS and agriculture classes, I definitely see the need for a larger facility or more room. I think back to my freshman year ag class when we were working on our FFA Greenhand degrees, and we dipped our hands in green paint and stamped a poster. We do not have a sink in the classroom, however, so we had to stain the girls’ bathroom sink for the day.
In my FACS class freshmen and sophomore year, we were cooking, and I found it very cramped as we were all trying to do different tasks and access different things. Yet, my class was relatively smaller compared to Mrs. Nelson’s Nutrition and Wellness class of this semester. I feel like I cannot learn independently in a hands-on way when there is no room,” senior Katelyn Kotas said.
This project would be in part funded by industry partners, establishing the need for community support. Additionally, a Workforce Education Grant is available in which B-E’s CTE programs have applied. The grant presents school districts and private, nonprofit entities who provide specialized training in South Dakota the opportunity to make transformative change in CTE programs.
In short, if B-E would receive the grant, they want to build a facility for CTE programs, so that they can have the space to accommodate for the growing number of students and instruct them appropriately with the added help of community members and business owners
This open house showcased the achievements of students in CTE courses, FCCLA and FFA along with by highlighting the 100 out of 112 students enrolled in CTE courses and illustrating the success of our FCCLA and FFA chapters. This success includes the following:
FCCLA- current chapter enrollment: 34 high school students and 22 middle school students
5 teams (8 students) advanced to National STAR Event competitions or their service projects
1 National FCCLA Officer
1 State FCCLA Officer
5 State Leadership team members
2 State Healthy Youth Summit team members
9 Region FCCLA Officers
“Since I have been teaching at this school, I have had five teams and eight individuals qualify and attend the National FCCLA Convention based off of their service projects within their STAR Events. Right now, however, these successful students combine much of their FCCLA project workspace with the kitchen in my classroom. It would be beneficial for my students to have a separate kitchen and classroom so that the kitchen materials can stay in the kitchen, and the classroom and FCCLA materials can stay in a safe classroom anyway from potential stains and destruction,” FACS teacher and FCCLA advisor Frankie Nelson said.
FFA- current chapter enrollment: 56, after starting with 16 members in 2010
1 National FFA CDE team
59 State Degrees- highest honor a senior FFA member can receive
1 State FFA Officer
3 SD State Proficiency Award Winners
3 SD State Proficiency Award Finalists
1 State Star Agribusiness finalist
2 students as first place winner in their spring CDE events at State FFA
7 District FFA Officers
“My biggest struggle in class is trying to find the space to hold Career Development Event team meetings or short FFA meetings. The CDE’s are hands-on that include many parts to the competition illustrating the need for more space to allow for more success in those events. The lack of space in my room also doesn’t allow much room for labs either. The largest class size I have taught in my small classroom consisted of 24 students,” Agriculture teacher and FFA advisor Karen Roudabush said.
Tours of the current CTE facilities were often given to demonstrate the need for a bigger, more useful space. The overall goal of the open house was to inform the Bridgewater and Emery community members, students, parents and businesses about current course offerings while displaying student learning and discussing goals for the future.
B-E CTE departments want to provide high-quality instruction with industry-current, safe facilities to enhance student learning. In doing so, they would create workspaces that reflect the environment students will work in throughout their careers. Within those spaces, provided equipment and tools will be like that which is used in the industry.
“Having taken FACS and agriculture classes, I definitely see the need for a larger facility or more room. I think back to my freshman year ag class when we were working on our FFA Greenhand degrees, and we dipped our hands in green paint and stamped a poster. We do not have a sink in the classroom, however, so we had to stain the girls’ bathroom sink for the day.
In my FACS class freshmen and sophomore year, we were cooking, and I found it very cramped as we were all trying to do different tasks and access different things. Yet, my class was relatively smaller compared to Mrs. Nelson’s Nutrition and Wellness class of this semester. I feel like I cannot learn independently in a hands-on way when there is no room,” senior Katelyn Kotas said.
This project would be in part funded by industry partners, establishing the need for community support. Additionally, a Workforce Education Grant is available in which B-E’s CTE programs have applied. The grant presents school districts and private, nonprofit entities who provide specialized training in South Dakota the opportunity to make transformative change in CTE programs.
In short, if B-E would receive the grant, they want to build a facility for CTE programs, so that they can have the space to accommodate for the growing number of students and instruct them appropriately with the added help of community members and business owners
