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Connect Canyons
Learning is about making connections, and we invite you to learn and connect with us. Connect Canyons is a show about what we teach in Canyons District, how we teach, and why. We get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great: students, teachers, principals, parents, and more. We meet national experts, too. And we spotlight the “connection makers” — personalities, programs and prospects — we find compelling and inspiring.
Connect Canyons
Episode 107: CTE Month: Aligning Schools With Workforce Needs
Imagine if schools prepared students for college and the world of work. Imagine if students graduated from high school with more than a diploma but also college credit and the credentials needed to immediately land high-paying high-tech jobs.
You might be imagining what’s known as Career and Technical Education (CTE), an educational model already firmly embraced in Canyons. From specialty programs like the Canyons Technical Education Center, to classes taught in CSD’s high schools in partnership with local businesses, CTE is an increasingly popular learning emphasis for students — and employers love it too.
“CTE is basically where you’re taking all of the learning from your other core subjects and applying it to a real world context,” says Mark Mataya, Administrator at Entrada Adult High School. “we’re providing a seed for that student to say, ‘I can grow this into whatever I want.’ The bounds are endless.”
February is National CTE Month and in this episode of Connect Canyons, Mataya lays out the ways CTE courses can help students, whether they aspire to study at one of the world’s leading universities or are looking to inherit the family business.
Every student should take at least one CTE class, Mataya says, noting these courses can open doors to unexpected futures.
One student, he recalls, attended a lecture by a chef in a culinary class and took the initiative to talk with the chef after, securing an internship. Now that student is the head chef at one of the top restaurants in Utah. “You can take your alpha type student, your Sterling Scholars, you put them into one of these trades and they would dominate, maybe learn to start their own business,” says Mataya, “I think most parents would be happy to have a child start their own business.”
Mataya also talks about his excitement for the possibilities at the newly purchased eBay building which the District is transforming into an innovation center to house and build upon many of the District’s existing CTE learning pathways.
“One of the pillars of the District is innovation,” says Mataya, “There’s something about when you take a learning environment and make it as real as it can be. It brings gravitas to it. When a student walks into those situations, they know something is different. We’re here trying to make it relatable to students and provide skills for them to go out there and have success.”
Episode Chapters
01:12 Business Collaborations and Programs
Our expert, Mark Mataya shares how Canyons School District works with a number of local businesses to provide real world experience for students while opening doors for internships and jobs directly out of high school.
04:47 Real-World Experience through CTE
Mataya expands on how that real world experience can help students to make the transition from the classroom to the workforce. He shares his excitement for the newly purchased eBay building which will become the District’s new innovation center.
07:41 Entrepreneurial Spirit in CTE
Some may think CTE classes are just for someone who wants to join the family business or learn a trade. Our expert explains how CTE classes can help everyone from someone who is looking to learn a specific skillset to a sterling scholar with their eyes on beginning their own business.
10:32 Inspiring Student Success Stories
Mataya shares one success story on how attending a single class led a Canyons student to a be the chef at one of the top restaurants in the state, and encourages other students to consider even one CTE class to help them on the journey to achieving their dreams after high school.
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyon School District. This is a show about what we teach, how we teach and why we get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more. We meet national experts, too. Learning is about making connections, so connect with us experts, too. Learning is about making connections.
Speaker 2:So connect with us. The mission of Canyon School District is to ensure every student, graduates, college and career ready. Whether they have set their sights on college, careers or helping with the family business, our educators work to help them reach their dreams. Welcome to Connect Canyons. I'm your host, Frances Cook. This month is National CTE Month. Cte stands for Career and Technical Education, an idea Canyons programs embrace full-heartedly. Joining me today is Mark Mattia, Administrator at Entrada Adult High School. He's also integral in a number of programs that we have throughout the district when it comes to getting students ready for their careers.
Speaker 3:Mark thank you for joining us. Thank you, cte, one of my favorite subjects. Let's go.
Speaker 2:Perfect, that's wonderful. Would you give us an overview of what kind of business collaborations do we have? What kind of programs do we have? We know we have CTEK, but it goes so much deeper than that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so our businesses out in our local community are vital. They're part of our community, right? We talk about connecting with our community and it's very intelligent actually, if you're thinking about preparing students for their careers in the future, to go actually go out and talk to the employers and say, well, what are you looking for, what are your needs, and then we can be responsive and make sure that we train our students so that when they graduate and then go on to maybe a training, a certificate program or a college degree or straight into a career, that we have prepared them and they are meeting what the demands of local labor is.
Speaker 2:I would imagine that can be very insightful, versus just getting a general certificate that you're not sure if anyone's going to maybe have a need to fill that space, but then being able to have those conversations, like you said, with our local community, our local businesses, knowing, hey, we actually have a really big need in this area, but maybe not this area.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Entrata, specifically, has partnered with a few businesses, local businesses. We partnered with McNeil's Auto Care. They're in 106 South and 70 East there and they had a need for mechanics because no one was going into that field hardly. They weren't replacing as many people retiring you might. If you have two or three people retire, you might only have one person coming up through the ranks. So we worked with them to make a pre-apprenticeship.
Speaker 3:We have an engineering class that we do with Focus Engineering up in Midvale where students can go to the business. They go off campus, they actually go to the business. They learn computer-aided drafting with the engineers there. They get to see what a business looks and feels like and they're a very good business, by the way and kind of really get that feel for what that professional environment looks like and then, of course, get that hard skill of learning the very basics of AutoCAD. And we also have right now a partnership with Merit Medical. They're one of the largest employers in the Valley down here I want to say they have 1,200, 1,300 employees and they have a lot of employees who have low literacy levels, english levels, and so what we've done is we got a federal grant, we partnered with them and we actually put teachers at their factory and right before or after a shift a student can go take English skills classes. Now, it's not just about English acquisition there, we're actually helping them to build soft skills.
Speaker 3:Where soft skills are show up, to work on time, how to have positive interactions with colleagues all these kinds of things right and we also have hard skills, and those hard skills are things like I know how to.
Speaker 3:so at Merit Medical they make IVs right, oh, okay, yeah Like the little IVs, like if you go to a doctor and you need a saline drip or whatever, they make the little IV part of it. And so, like a person there, they might start out you know they're carrying around buckets of these things around or whatever but maybe the next job up is some sort of quality control level thing, and so what we're doing is that we're working with the shift managers to say, okay, well, what skills do you guys need where you're trying to build your people from the inside, be upwardly mobile, and so we're actually giving those employees an opportunity to build those skills so that they can apply for that next job, make a little bit more money for their family.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. There's only so much you can teach in the classroom and what we're teaching in our classrooms is obviously important and it's kind of the groundwork for where these students will be going. But getting them actually into these businesses, getting that real world experience there's just nothing that compares to that.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Cte is basically where you're taking all of the learning from all your other core subjects and then applying it to a real world context. So if you're getting some math skills right, well, we want to be able to take those math skills into your profession, whether that's going to be engineering or welding or nursing Right, all those things require some level of mathematics. Right your English classes. You need to know how to read informational text at your job. Right, you need to be able to pull out the more salient information. All of the subjects to me lead into a person gaining those skills, putting those together and then going out into the workforce and applying those skills in those real-world contexts, and that's what the core of CTE is.
Speaker 2:Now we've kind of been talking about Entrata-specific programs and the work at Entrata is wonderful, but I think a lot of the times people may see a trade certificate or some kind of trading program as an or path, not an and or path. You can be an international baccalaureate, but also it can be beneficial to take these training courses. What are some of the other ways we're integrating CTE across the district?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we have so many. You just look at our CTEK location, where they have cybersecurity, cosmetology, welding, diesel, mechanics, law enforcement. They have business.
Speaker 3:They're a great business program and then you'll have it like a lot of the other schools, the high schools You'll have. Auto shops You'll have there is an engineering program over at Alta, for instance, that I know about. There's tons of those things all over the district. I really think that Canyon School District has really where the rubber meets the road when it comes to careers, right. I mean, look at the huge investment in that eBay building. That eBay building is an amazing learning environment. It doesn't feel like a classroom, it feels like going to work, and so there's something about when you take a learning environment and make it as real as it can be out in the real world, that actually brings gravitas to it. A student walks into those situations right or in that environment and they know something's different. So I'm really excited actually for the district to take a lot of our CTE programs and put them over that innovation center and really, like at light speed, get students prepared for that next thing they want to do in life.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and earlier you were mentioning how beneficial it can be to you know a lot of people these days want to start their own businesses Absolutely. Can you touch on that? I? Mean you need a degree, sure, but there are other things that these CTE programs can help provide you.
Speaker 3:Well, and this is the thing like a lot of our entrepreneurs never do anything in a straight line right.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And I think that CTE is really, really married to that entrepreneur spirit. A lot of people, I think, are for the trades. It's hard to find someone that's against the trades.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 3:But I think that sometimes it's this idea like we love the trades, but that's for maybe someone else's kid.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 3:I think that that's missing the boat a little bit, because these trades a student sure, maybe they learn welding and they go out and they're going to work for someone else for a little bit.
Speaker 3:But while they're in that trade they might find an advantage or they might find another avenue and so they got these skills from the inside and then they can take that skill and then start their own business.
Speaker 3:I bet you just about any parent would sign up for their kid to someday own their own business right, and to make and to have that freedom that comes with that and the hard work and the rewards that comes with that and the hard work and the rewards that come with entrepreneurship. We're not just providing middle skills, right. Middle skills are not necessarily unskilled labor and it's not necessarily a professional level like a doctor or whatever. Middle skills is like that stuff that's in between. And so we're not just providing that, we're providing a seed for that student to say I can grow this into whatever I want. The bounds are endless. So my own son and daughter like if they want to go into the trades, heck, yeah, right, and hey, not only am I going to support you to learn whatever trade you want to what interests you, but at the same time marry that with some sort of business training.
Speaker 3:And I know that we have those opportunities here. So I really think that that's an angle that most people don't see. They just say, oh, we're just middle-skill jobs and they're going to work for someone else forever. No, no, you can take your alpha-type student.
Speaker 3:that's like the unstoppable student right, that's our Sterling scholars and you put them into one of these trades, they would dominate in those right Like go in there, learn that, start your own business and then next thing you know, you have your second business and your third business right. So I really think that the CTE world really lends itself to people who want to go out there, find a unique way to solve some sort of problem and to make money doing it. And yeah, I feel like that's a big part of it. I think that the limits that people think about with some of these trades sure, I mean, if you want to, you could- you could end it at a paycheck.
Speaker 2:It's just a paycheck for you, or sky's the limit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, or sky's the limit, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:That's a really, really great way to look at it. You know, we were talking beforehand and you mentioned this really great connection that one of your students made. Oh yeah, can you share that story?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we several of these kinds of instances, but we were talking earlier and the idea is is that sure you might have a student that gets on one of these paths? Right, maybe they're. They're in deca and they're doing marketing and they're going to go on this like for several years. Take business and marketing classes.
Speaker 3:That's awesome yeah but sometimes just taking a just one cte class can make a huge difference. So we had a culinary class and the teacher of the culinary class invited a friend of hers to come in. He owned his own catering business, so he came in and really the lesson of the day was he was going to explain how he got into culinary and into owning his business and he was actually taught students how to spatchcock a chicken, which I actually sat and watched because I wanted to learn it.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's hard, it is hard, it's hard to do well.
Speaker 3:Right, I've done it once and I don't know that I'll ever do it again. It is hard, it's hard to do. Well, right, I've done it once and I don't know that I'll ever do it again. It's worth it, but that is hard, it is, and, and you know so, what was really cool about this guy was that, you know, he was a student, who, he was trying to find where his genius was, and, and I honestly believe that every single student has a genius for something, several geniuses possibly, but we're just trying to connect our students with what their genius is, right, I hope that that's what our goal is.
Speaker 3:And so, anyways, this guy like not the greatest at math and English, but he found this passion for cooking and he has actually had a job in high school. And then one thing leads to another. Next thing, he knows he's the manager of this restaurant, or top chef, or whatever it was, and next thing, he's owning his own business, and he's like in his 20s at that time. So my students love hearing this because they're like, it's not just like, oh, this could be for someone else, no, they can see that themselves after hearing that firsthand account. So, anyways, I had a student in there and he really loved what this guy was saying. He actually asked the guy hey, do you have a job? And he interned with him. He learned a little bit about, he got to do some events with his catering business and stuff.
Speaker 3:And now that student, he came back a couple months later after he graduated and came to say hi, you know, and he was a sous chef at one of the local restaurants now, so having taking one class led this student to go and find a career and happiness. He was so happy, right, that he had connected with something, and so isn't that what it's all about, right? Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I think you're right. I mean getting that experience and just I think in a way that can be what high school is about right. Absolutely I think you're right. I mean getting that experience and just I think in a way that can be what high school is about right Figuring out what do I want to do in life. But then also, you know, kudos to your student having that forethought to walk up to this guy who just happens to be speaking at a class and going hey, this was really interesting. Do you have an internship? Can I get a card? Can I email you? You know, opening up those networking channels can be just invaluable. And to hear that he's now a sous chef at one of the top restaurants in Utah.
Speaker 3:Well, and I fully expect someday I'm going to walk into a restaurant and have a wonderful meal and hopefully he comes out and he is the top chef of the restaurant Top chef yeah, or it's his restaurant you know, I fully expect in five, ten years, that's what's going to be.
Speaker 3:That's how excited he was about this and that happens all over the district, right? So it's not just us like getting a student into one of those CTE pathways and completing them that's awesome, by the way, and that will give someone a really high skill but just all these other classes students can take that might spark something, because I think that it is very daunting to you. Know, we do talk to students. What are you going to do the rest of your life? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 3:And you know, I'm 48 and I've been tempted to try different things.
Speaker 3:I don't know what I'm going to do next week, and so I really think that it's this really daunting task for someone who's 16, or whatever age they are when they're starting to take some of these courses, to say this is what I'm going to do the rest of my life. If, at the very least, we can expose students to different types of career classes, you never know, they might spark an interest in something that they never would have thought of before, absolutely. So, yeah, vital, vital that we connect them and if we can just get them to jump into something right, it might not be what you do forever, but this is how you can get a good start in life.
Speaker 2:Try it out, see how it fits and, like you said, maybe you'll find something you never would have thought of.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Yeah, Like you said, maybe you'll find something you never would have thought of.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah. What else do you want students, parents, educators to know about the CTE programs here in Canyons?
Speaker 3:Well, they're top-notch. First of all, you know, I used to work for the State Board of Ed before I came to Canyons about 10 years ago and I chose Canyons as a place to work because I really saw that the schools were supported by the district, the programs were supported by the district. One of the pillars of the district is innovation. I love innovating. I'm excited to prove folks wrong who think that public education is just what it's always been, forever and ever. We're here trying to make it relatable to students and to provide skills and for people to go out there and have success. No-transcript. And also, I think we're in a good part of town, too right, and where there's a lot of local businesses that we can use. I mentioned a few that we have here.
Speaker 3:And I would also. You know it is a requirement to get one credit. If you're going to get your high school diploma, you need to earn 1.01 years worth of a class of credit in a career. And I would even say hey to a student go beyond that one credit, right, I would just say we've got top notch programs and to really, if you're a parent in the district, have your children try something new and a little bit out of the box. I think that with all the options we have here in the district, it's a really low cost, low investment for a student to say, hey, you know what I'm going to take that digital media class. You know, I kind of like art. I'm not that great at computers but I want to try this out. And you never know. Next thing, you know that person might be working in communications department at Canyon's district down the road Exactly.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, anyways, I would just say, hey, dive in, there's tons of stuff out there. So, anyways, I would just say, hey, dive in, there's tons of stuff out there. Don't necessarily feel like this is what you got to do your whole life as a student. Dive into something, try it out, get started. You never know where life's going to take you. Most people change their careers six, seven, eight times in their lifetime, right? Fundamental, huge changes, right? So don't be worried about this having to be what you're going to do forever. Dive in, try something new.
Speaker 2:I think that's a beautiful mindset to have. Mark, I'm inspired, I want to go take some classes and learn some new trades and skills.
Speaker 3:Oh, you don't even know how many times I wanted to take welding. And here, I am you know I run a school with welding program and I've never been able to do it, but when I do visit I'm really jealous of all the really cool things that people get to do in our district and award-winning programs in the district.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, well, thank you so much. I mean, it's really great to hear the exceptionally wide variety of options available to students. You don't just have to go to Entrata or to CTECH. You know, there's programs at every one of our high schools and maybe you do want to go over to CTECH, or maybe you just want to, like you said, hang out at the engineering program at ALTA.
Speaker 3:And the options are growing right when that innovation center comes.
Speaker 3:I'm excited to see what new programs come from having that new space. I know at Entrata right now we're applying for a grant from the National Science Foundation to increase our ability to connect students with CTE options in adult education. Specifically, our district has grants with the STEM Action Center. Entrata actually has a grant from the STEM Action Center right now where we've gone in there and trained teachers again to provide better opportunities throughout, actually not just Entrada High School but our grant. We've actually gone to other adult ed programs across the state to kind of do a train-the-trainer situation. So anyways, canyons leads the way right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the future is now. The future is now Well, mark, thanks so much for joining us. This has been incredibly insightful and, to all of our students out there, I hope you do take that chance and try something new.
Speaker 3:You never know. Dive in, dive in. You never know. You never know what you'll find.
Speaker 2:Thanks again Thanks, and thank you for listening. If there's a topic you'd like to hear discussed on the podcast, send us an email to communications at canyonsdistrictorg.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect Canyons. Connect with us on Twitter, facebook or Instagram at Canyons District or on our website, canyonsdistrictorg.
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