Putnam County Schools will expand career exploration opportunities, adding new college and career labs at Avery Trace Middle School and Monterey High School.
CTE Supervisor Jackie Vester said the district is utilizing the Innovative School Models Grant from the state of Tennessee to fund the expansion. Vester said the grant provided $1 million for each high school and $500,000 for each middle school to promote career exploration and connections to local industry.
“After we put one of these labs in at Algood Middle School, we saw the level of engagement from our students and we realized that this was a great way to incorporate job skills and expose students at a younger age to those job skills,” Vester said.
The direct learning labs allow students to explore different jobs. Vester said the new labs are expected to be operational within the first nine weeks of the current school year.
“These offer hands-on, 10-day modules for students to explore entry-level tasks for our programs of study at the high school,” Vester said. “So for example, students may have the opportunity to learn to put together an engine, they have welding simulators, 3D printers, students are also able to learn to wire a light bulb, fix a p-trap and lay tile.”
Vester said the district is partnering with a company called Paxton/Patterson to build the labs, which takes approximately three days to complete. Vester said the equipment is placed directly into traditional classrooms rather than requiring new construction.
“I think our students and parents feel strongly that they want to know what options are out there so that they can make an informed decision on what their future looks like,” Vester said.
The labs feature a bright environment using lime green, blue, and orange colors with various stations dedicated to specific career paths. Vester said one station might feature a stuffed dog for veterinary skills while another focuses on small engine repair.
“If they really struggle with small engines but they feel extremely comfortable in the nursing module, then that might be, you know, a sign to that student that that’s the direction that they want to go,” Vester said.
Vester said students are placed into specific modules based on interest and aptitude tests taken through a program called Naviance. Vester said the labs are part of an encore rotation where students spend 45 minutes a day in the lab for nine weeks.
“I think it impacts student decision-making as they move forward,” Vester said. “I think it also impacts their exposure. I like for somebody to be able to make informed decisions, I think that’s our goal as a school system to inform our students and educate our students and that’s what we’re doing with these labs.”
