UKIAH — Mendocino College of Ukiah was the host of a Career Technical Education (CTE) Advisory Committee Meeting on Oct. 3. The college hosted approximately 100 people including high school teachers, college instructors and industry representatives.
The event demonstrated the progress high school CTE teachers and staff have made in Lake and Mendocino counties to work in partnership with colleges to develop sequenced CTE programs of study.
The evening started with welcome addresses made by Arturo Reyes, Mendocino College Superintendent/President; Peter Kostas, executive director of student programs for Mendocino County Office of Education; Brock Falkenberg, senior director of student programs of the Lake County Office of Education; and Sue Goff, CTE dean of Mendocino College.
Light refreshments were provided by the Culinary Arts Programs of Mendocino College and Fort Bragg High School.
Participants were divided up by disciplines, where they spent multiple hours discussing career technical education and how to continue its growth and effectiveness.
While teachers at the high school and college level work to provide quality CTE programs such as culinary, computers, automotive, agriculture and child development, they rely on people from the workforce to help them bring real world application to their programs.
The partnership between high school, community colleges and the workforce allows for shared resources, the development of career pathways and encourages communication to produce students with industry knowledge and skills necessary to be quality team employees.
While a large focus of the discussions tend to center around the industry specific skills, a common thread among all groups is teaching students soft skills, which include attendance, dress, communication, cellphone use and proper professional etiquette.
Several of the advisory groups also spoke of improving regional partnerships between K-12 education and business partners to support high-need careers in their industry sectors. This advisory committee meeting was a dual county event for Lake and Mendocino counties.
Lake County participants included Lower Lake High School”s Pam Inman, Eric Hoefler, Kimmy Jo Olsen, and Joe Parker; Upper Lake High School”s Becky Toback and Erica Boomer; Clear Lake High School”s Peggy Tyson and Lake County Office of Education Program Specialist Tammy Serpa and Senior Director Brock Falkenberg.
Those who would like to volunteer to serve on an advisory committee should contact the local high school or community college.
