Technical know-how
Students showcase skills at Lodi open house
LODI — More than 40 students, both teens and adults, spent Wednesday evening demonstrating the abilities and knowledge they’ve learned on the path to dozens of technical careers.
Lincoln Technical Academy hosted its third open house at its 546 E. Pine St. location, an event designed to attract Lodi Unified School District students to its career technical education program.
Courses offered in the program include medical and dental assistance, fire science, computer repair, entrepreneurship and the culinary arts, among others.
“The main element of a high quality CT program is marketing,” vice principal Mark Troutner said. “Instead of a traditional back to school night, where parents learn what their students will be learning, we have an event where our goal is to promote CTE throughout the district.”
High school students and those in the district’s adult school program conduct a variety of demonstrations at the open house, from inspecting mouths in dental assistance, to coding in computer programming, and apprehending a fleeing suspect in the administration of justice course.
The demonstrations are designed to give students in grades 7-10 a chance to consider a career in law enforcement, culinary arts or computers, among others, and prepare them for either a career or secondary education.
“We don’t like it when people say there’s either college or a career,” Troutner
said. “There is college and career readiness here. It doesn’t matter how long a student’s educational process takes. At the end of it, you’re going to get a job.”
For Maria Medrano, an adult school student, she is hoping to pursue a career in dentistry as a dental assistant.
On Wednesday, she was demonstrating the ways to inspect a patient’s mouth for abnormalities such as discoloration and cavities.
She said the program interested her because it is an opportunity to learn about people and what is going on with their teeth.
One of the most interesting things she’s learned in the course is instrument transfer, she said.
“When I first came here, I didn’t know there was a certain way you had to transfer some of the instruments a dentist uses in into their hands,” she said.
“You can’t just hand it over to them when they ask for something. I also didn’t know it was the assistant’s job to do mouth impressions. I’ve never had one, so I didn’t know what that was about.”
Edmund Davis, a junior at McNair High School, was frying up spinach, penne pasta and feta cheese for attendees to sample as part of the culinary arts program.
He said the course interested him because he wanted to learn how to cook unique dishes. He said he is strongly considering a career as a chef with what he’s learned.
“I didn’t know how to cook and thought this would help me,” he said. “I also came in to try new foods and learn how things were made.”
Melanie McBee is the only female student in the fire science program, which not only focuses on how to fight fires, but how to maintain equipment such as oxygen tanks and fire extinguishers.
The Lodi High School junior said when she first started the program, a lot of the curriculum and exercises were scary. But, she said she would like to become a firefighter after high school.
“I liked the idea of being able to rescue people, but I was also interested in what else it takes to be a firefighter,” she said. “I didn’t know there were different types of fires, or that you needed a certain type of extinguisher for each type of fire.”
Lincoln Technical Academy first opened its doors in 1997, and Principal Julie Jacobssen said a lot of technologies and practices have changed for many of the careers highlighted in the program.
To adapt to the changing times, she said the program has an advisory board made up of professionals in each industry represented at the academy, who provide updates on new equipment, techniques and methods.
“(The open house) is about getting the district’s community to support programs for students, and to showcase what they’ve learned,” she said. “And it’s to prepare them for their post-educational careers.”
For more information about Lincoln technical Academy, visit www.lincolntech.lodiusd.net.