There will be even more options for Guilford County Schools (GCS) students in the Career and Technical Education (CTE) program next year.

Bob Gantt, director of college tech prep/career and technical education, discussed the growth of GCS’ Career and Technical Education (CTE) program in the district. The program plans to add new opportunities in both middle schools and high schools. This past year, the district provided additional support to allow middle school students to participate in robotics competitions and in 2015-16, all middle schools will offer an aviation systems course.

“We know how important the aviation industry is in our area and we expect it to grow,” explained Gantt. “We are very excited to offer this opportunity to our middle school students and get them excited early about these careers.”

There will also be new opportunities for high school students in the 2015-16 year, including a new public safety cluster, additional robotics resources in CTE programs, new 3D printers and new classes at various schools.

If a student is interested in a cluster or class that is not available at their high school, they may have the option of taking the course at Weaver Academy. Bus transportation is available to Weaver from all GCS high schools.

Students are encouraged to participate in one of 14 career clusters: Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; Architecture and Instruction; Arts, AV Technology and Communications; Business Management and Administration; Finance; Health Science; Hospitality and Tourism; Human Services; Information Technology; Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security; Manufacturing; Marketing; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; and Transportation, Distribution and Logistics.

CTE course clusters not only provide students with hands-on experiences in their career of interest, but they also provide them with the opportunity to earn professional certifications that can either be used to get good paying jobs right out of high school, or give them marketable skills that can be built on in higher education and further on in their careers.

The graduation rate for students concentrating in a cluster is 97 percent for the 2013-14 school year, and 94.4 percent of the CTE class of 2013 entered post-secondary education, the military or are currently employed.

“We’re so proud of our student success and look forward to growing this program to reach even more students in the future,” says Gantt.