Students, teachers, employers connect at IVROP CTE Showcase
IMPERIAL – Employers, students, parents, barbers and more were out in full force for the IVROP CTE Showcase here at the fairgrounds’ Casa de Mañana building on Thursday, February 8.
The Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program (IVROP)’s annual Career Technical Education (CTE) Showcase brings together CTE students from local high schools, their teachers and industry professionals in various career pathways as a way to showcase the students’ work, the CTE programs available locally, and employers looking for the next generation of the workforce.
In addition, it is the IVROP’s way to celebrate “CTE Month®,” event coordinator and IVROP Educational Services Coordinator, Adriana Hernandez, said, a national initiative to “raise awareness of the role that CTE has in readying learners for college and career success,” according to Advance CTE’s website, careertech.org.
Locally, the IVROP CTE Showcase brought together 22 CTE teachers, 9 different CTE industries and 8 schools with CTE classes in collaboration for the event.
“There’s been a big shift throughout the years to put more importance into career technical education – its more opportunities; it’s not just limited to what used to be ‘vocational training.’” Hernandez said.
“(CTE) opens your options for careers or college, but also you can finish high school with industry certifications to help you get jobs right out of high school or help you in continuing your education, and you have a place to grow,” she said. “CTE is based on high wage, in demand jobs, that’s part of how CTE pathways are created, and the connection to employers is important.”
The CTE Showcase event had a handful of highlights, including not just the various booths and general student accomplishments, but also a two live on-stage demonstrations, food from CTE schools where students showed their culinary skills, and live competitions in beauty and barbering, including awards for “Best Girl Makeover,” “Best Male Haircut,” and “Best Overall Acrylic Nail Design.”
“We actually have an engineering industry and two industry members from lithium-related jobs that are here today, so it is a way for them to let us know that these jobs are coming,” Hernandez said.
“We want to make sure that the community knows about these great courses and that students get to show what they’re doing and learning is important,” she said. “They’re getting that hands-on experience in class that any industry or job site is asking for.”
CTE teachers and students both seemed excited to show what they’ve been doing in their respective classes or groups.
“It’s very important for us to come out here because we need to express to the community who we are,” Southwest California Cadet Corps Commandant, Arturo Velasquez, said of Southwest High School’s new cadet corps program,
“so getting our voice out there and telling people that this program (exists) is the main thing.”
“It’s not only getting the word out but also making sure that people actually see the change that’s happening (in the students through this program),” he said.
“These kids have been after it since day one, have been dedicated and working on themselves, improving themselves one way or another,” Velasquez said, “so (it’s) making sure that the community understand that’s what our program is about.”
As the smells of food and acrylic nails filled the different sides of the Casa de Mañana building, the excitement from the students to have an outlet to express their work was palpable.
“It was good. I liked how we were able to present to the public what we’ve been taught,” SHS Cadet Corps Corporal, David Loshek, a sophomore at SHS, said.
“We’ve all been working hard for this moment to go out in public and present what the Cadet Corps is about,” Loshek said. “It shows that we’re working hard and are very well disciplined.”
“I think that it’s cool that people our age are (showcasing),” SHS Cadet Corps Corporal, Denise Mora, said. “That’s how someone in our age group would understand it – that it’s not just an adult telling them to do it but someone from our age group stepping up to do it and getting experience while they’re doing it.”
“Hopefully it encourages people to join because it helps you out dramatically,” Loshek said.
The students said the CTE Showcase event is “definitely necessary for younger people.”
“It opens up doors and opportunities for younger people who still don’t know what they want to do,” Loshek said, “so this definitely opens up interests and paths for them.”