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No. 1
March, 2015
TheSimpson County Technical Center:
Promoting Educational and Career Opportunities
Contributing Author—Dr. Bo Huffman, CTE Director
The Simpson County Technical Center has long been given a bad rap when it comes to the opportunities that are available to students who attend the career and technical center programs offered at our site. In fact, this is a misperception and a challenge that all career-technical centers are faced with in terms of changing the mindset of the communities we serve. It is one of my goals as the director of career and technical education for the Simpson County School District to help change this mindset so that our citizens know the truth about the opportunities afforded to the students enrolled in the CTE programs offered through The Simpson County Technical Center.
As we move from the cookie cutter mold, where the focus was on every student graduating and attending college without any idea of a possible career choice, to graduating with specific skills that not only enable students to attend college but also begin a career related to the specific skills learned while in high school, the idea that students who enroll in technical center programs are not able to attend college has now become an antiquated way of thinking. A fresher, more 21st Century approach indicates that students who attend technical programs are better prepared for life after high school whether they decide to further their education at a post-secondary institution of their choice or go directly into the workforce in a job setting where the skills they learn are utilized. According to Mr. Kenny Goza, Director of the MS Scholars and MS Techmaster programs for the state, one Mississippi study found that the two most important factors for putting Mississippi students and Mississippi in a place of greatest opportunity were education at 39% and economic competitiveness at 49%. In this same study, the greatest roadblocks were the lack of a skilled workforce at 38% and a negative perception of all of us Mississippians at 40%. I can only guess that the 40% of people who say there is a misperception about us Mississippians is based on the pseudo- idea that we are an uneducated group of country bumpkins, which of course, all of us Mississippians know couldn’t be further from the truth. In addition, this study also inquired as to the perceived importance of career and technical education programs in our state. The answer was a resounding 89% with the greatest opportunity being in advanced manufacturing. This is exactly the reason why we are encouraging more students to enroll in the current technical programs offered and why we are striving to offer additional course offerings in technical education at both Magee High School and Mendenhall High School and The Simpson County Technical Center.
On Thursday, March 26, 2015, parents and students will be able to attend pre-registration meetings at both Magee High and Mendenhall High in order to select course offerings for student schedules for the 2015-2016 school year. At these meetings I strongly urge both parents and students to consider the opportunities available through the programs offered in career and technical education. By choosing to be a part of the career and technical programs offered, whether at one of the two high schools in the district or The Simpson County Technical Center, students will not only be better able to graduate with a skill but be more marketable, ensuring that they will be better able to go somewhere and do something after graduation.
