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 108: Canyons Leads the Way in Hands-On Experience for Students
All across Canyon School District, students are working through real time scenarios with local businesses, and gaining hands-on experience through Career and Technical Education, or CTE classes and programs.
For the last week of CTE Month, we sat down with Canyons CTE Director Janet Goble and Alta High’s CTE Coordinator Stephanie Morgan to take a deeper dive into the opportunities available to students across the District.
“The mission of Canyons School District is to ensure every student will graduate college-and career-ready,” says Goble. “Not only are they getting the academic side of things, but they will also be able to qualify for a job. We’re lucky that our students get to have a whole range of experience.”
From internships to job shadows, to networking and student-run programs and competitions, Canyons teachers are working to ensure every student has the tools they need to succeed, no matter what path they choose after college.
Episode Chapters
00:48 Overview of CTE Programs
Our experts explain CTE and the many opportunities in place for Canyons students, regardless of their end goal after high school.
02:47 Hands-On Learning Experiences
We hear how CTE goes beyond the foundations of learning, providing the hands-on learning experience that will help students later in life.
06:05 Job Placements and Internships
Goble and Morgan tell us about the partnerships the District has with local businesses and how they work to provide job placement and internships for students.
14:21 Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs)
We discuss the student-run programs and other opportunities for students to participate in, including a shoutout to the 47 DECA students who placed top 3 in the state competition.
19:13 The Impact of CTE on Students
Our experts share their favorite success stories of students who have taken CTE courses or participated in the many programs available across the District.
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.
Speaker 2:Last week, we learned about how students across Canyon School District can work in real-time scenarios with local businesses, and we touched on how Career and Technical Education, or CTE, can help students regardless of their end goal can help students regardless of their end goal. This is the last week of CTE month and we want to expand on our previous episode as well as talk about the many job placements and other opportunities available to our students. Welcome to Connect Canyons. I'm your host, frances Cook. Joining me today is Janet Goebel, director of CTE for the District, and Stephanie Morgan, cte Coordinator at Alta High School. Thank you both for joining us.
Speaker 2:Thank you for inviting us, thanks for having us so we've touched on this in a previous episode, but I'd love for you to share your insights on the CTE programs and courses and things that are available to our Canyon students. I know that's kind of a broad question, but I just want to hear what you're both excited about.
Speaker 3:Well, cte is one of the a large program area. It's pretty much all the electives in the high schools except for fine arts, and so we have a variety of classes in all of our high schools Pathways. It's a big area, and so I want to make sure that people are aware that we have full-scale programs in our high schools as well as our technical center, which houses our capstone programs. So they are related but different at the same time. Stephanie, do you want to jump in and talk about your classes at Alta High, which is representative of what's happening at the other schools?
Speaker 4:at Alta High, which is representative of what's happening at the other schools. Yeah, so I've been a business educator for the last 20 years in our district and then I've recently stepped into this new role as the CTE coordinator at Alta High School and it has been so great to see all the different programs that we offer up close and personal and step foot in other classes of my colleagues and my different CTE teachers we offer. The thing that I love the most about CTE is they are hands-on, skill-based classes. So when I walk into a CTE classroom, the students are engaged, they're working, they're building, they're engaged and doing relevant things that I love. So it helps students get those real-world experiences and be able to apply what they're learning in their other classes with hands-on experiences.
Speaker 3:That is so true. I remember at Corner Canyon High School the principal telling me the best math teacher on this campus is the woodworking teacher, because they were building guitars from scratch acoustic guitars and you had to have the angles and it was a lot of geometry and you had to have it just right or it wasn't going to play. So that's a hands-on example of applying those core concepts.
Speaker 2:That's a perfect example. You don't really think about it. You think woodwork and you think, oh, they're going to be making bar stools. But they do so much more than that, and especially when it comes to a musical instrument. You got to have those measurements on point, stephanie. Can you dive deeper into that? What are some examples of ways students are learning these? How are they learning with these hands-on experiences?
Speaker 4:Oh, there's been so many great examples that I've experienced in the last few months as a coordinator in my culinary arts classes. It's so great to go in there and see them. They're obviously using math and their recipes and they're creating things and cooking things and that's just been so fun. Same with the sewing classes. The engineering and robotics program at Alta has really stood out.
Speaker 4:So today I was walking through the halls and ran into my robotics teacher and they were walking their robot through the school that they had just built and he said we built this from scratch, like every will everything. They programmed it and the students were just. You should have seen the looks on their faces. They were so proud to show me they let me take over the controller and drive it around, and that was just so fun. It's so incredible to see the things that they're doing in these classes.
Speaker 4:Last week I judged, for we have a game development class that Aaron Edwards teaches and I was able to judge their game development. It was kind of like a shark tank where they all have to get in groups and design their own video game and they gave a big presentation with the characters and a picture of what it would look like and what audience they were targeting, and I just had no idea that we offered these types of things in high school. And there's something for everyone, right? There's all different students that we're working with and it's so fun to see them find their thing that they can be passionate about.
Speaker 2:You know, I think we don't realize growing up the way we grew up, we weren't making robots in class or developing a game. You know, I think it's really great to have, you know, the ability for parents to hear this as well, because our generation just did not learn the same way that these kiddos are getting to learn, and it's so cool to see how you know to age myself, how, with the times, Canyons is. You know, we're leading the way when it comes to the innovation, the technology. We've got the new innovation center coming. Are you guys excited about that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, can't wait.
Speaker 2:It's going to be beautiful to just provide even more opportunities. Let's take it a step further. So the students are taking these classes, they're learning these hands-on experiences, but then let's talk about job placements and internships. That's the next step for them, right? How are these classes helping them to get there, and what opportunities do we have set up for our students when it does come to job placements?
Speaker 3:You know it's interesting because the model for Canyon School District is college and career ready. So if you really take that apart, it's kind of harder to be college and career ready than just college ready, because that involves a entry level job skill. So not only are they getting the academic side of the house, they also have to be able to qualify for a job. So a lot of our students participate in internships and externships, depending on the program they're at. Our internship coordinators do a phenomenal job in placing students. At Corner Canyon High School I'll use that as an example we have an internship class that we have a lot of medical students in and those are very difficult to come by, and so we're lucky that our students get to have a whole range of experience. Their end goals are everything from oncology to mortuary science and everything in between. They also for our internship class. It has to relate to their college and career ready plan, sure, and so they are actually working and seeking an internship placement for that.
Speaker 3:For instance, one of the business students has been interning at Universal Business Insurance, which goes right along, and so they are making these industry connections and a lot of times they get hired straight out of high school and they're able to work there while they are doing their college. Another great placement was Murray Municipal Justice Court, and so you know it's just really exciting to see these kids fired up. They're excited They've gone through a pathway. And then this is the next step At CTEC, at our Technical Education Center. We see externships there. So a student who is going through, as an example, the CNA program, they are doing an externship to get their hours so that at the end of the day they can actually get their certification, their state certification, and be a licensed CNA at the end of that program. So that's just a couple of examples of how students are launching right into the workforce from what they are learning here in our CTE classes.
Speaker 2:And in such a broad way too. You know, we're not just sending them out to any willy-nilly internship just to get hours right. It's that hands-on, like we said, experience with local businesses, which is so great too, because we're developing the next generation of people working. They can work right here at home, right here in their backyard, or maybe they want to go somewhere else or go overseas, but we're providing them those tools. That's really cool to hear. Stephanie, what are you seeing with students at ALTA when it comes to job placements and internships?
Speaker 4:So I was actually the internship coordinator at Jordan High for about 10 years. Is there anything you haven't done?
Speaker 4:No, I've been around a long time since actually before the district was created and I loved being an internship coordinator and I loved that it gave our students an opportunity. I would always tell them it's a way to test drive a career, because they might have taken a class or a few classes and they think that that's what they want to do, and so I would put them out in an internship in the area and they would come back to me at the end of the semester. I'd always have them present to the middle schools and some of the students would come back just in love with their internship. They knew a hundred percent that's what they wanted to do. I've actually ran into some of my former interns, because now it's been, you know, 10 plus years.
Speaker 4:They've been my dental hygienist when I went to the dentist one time and told me they remember doing an internship where I've run into them and they're now an accountant somewhere and it's so that's like so rewarding for me as a teacher to see that they're doing that. But I also had students that came back.
Speaker 4:They thought they wanted to be an elementary school teacher and then they'd come back and they'd say I could never do that every day, or they wanted to do something and I think that was just as valuable, if not more valuable that they were able to cross something off their list, cause even as adults, a lot of us, you know, have changes in what we want to do, or how many college students change their major midway, and I think giving them that experience when they're in high school is so valuable. So I told them either way, it's a win, whether you loved it or you didn't love it, as much it was valuable. So that's what I love about the internship program.
Speaker 2:It's not a bad thing to come back and go. You know, maybe that's not what I thought it was. I had a similar experience, but mine wasn't until college, yes, so it's really nice to hear that they're turning that into a learning opportunity. And I think it's a testament to how hard our teachers work that you send an intern in and they go. Oh, these people are putting in the work.
Speaker 3:So shout out to our teachers. Well, another thing I wanted to mention is our industry partners are really looking for workers, A lot of our middle skilled jobs. They do not have the workers coming into their, into their jobs.
Speaker 2:Can you expand on that a little bit? So we have correct me if I'm right soft skills, middle skills, and I don't remember the other one.
Speaker 3:Well, so what I'm referring to are middle skilled jobs that don't require they require a high school diploma. They may or may not require much college, and so these are industry partners who just cannot fill their jobs. So a great example of this is the diesel industry, and they are hurting for workers bad, and so they've partnered with us. We have a great partnership with them, and they take our students every week for job shadows. Well, not only is it a great experience for the students, but I'll tell you, these industry people are sizing them up for jobs, and oftentimes they get hired, and then they will pay for their college, which is awesome, yeah, and so a student can get college paid for, depending on how. If they want to go into management, they'll pay right up through a master's degree for these students, or if they enjoy the hands-on mechanical work, they can do that and make six figures within about five years, and so it's just as beneficial for our industry partners as it is for our students.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Opening those opportunities, getting those conversations going. I had the opportunity to go down to Utah County and I believe it was Draper Park middle school. They went for kind of a shark tank deal and it was with CNBC and they had all of these local businesses come in and it was the greatest thing to witness these kiddos come up with their product, pitch it to local. You know entrepreneurs who have already gone through this stage of their lives. But the best part to me was, after everything was said and done, one of these students had printed off his own little business cards and they were the wrong size, they were too small and you could tell. He cut them out himself and he put a little car on it. But he had his name, his phone number and his email address and he marched right up to the vice president of CNBC and gave her his card and she's like well, we might have some internships available for you. We might have to hire you. I'll get in touch. That's awesome.
Speaker 3:I love it and that was it.
Speaker 2:That's all it took this. This middle schooler just knew what he wanted and he was willing to go for it, or at least see if it might be something that would interest him down the line. And it just was so fulfilling to see this. These kids just take that opportunity and run with it.
Speaker 3:And that's a part of our college and career awareness course the business side of it. They talk about being entrepreneurs and and inventors and doing unique things and they do those Shark Tank type of events. And big shout out to Pam Saltmarsh. She's the teacher at Draper Park Middle School who put that all together. A lot of work, but how rewarding for those students and I think the industry. People are going holy cow these kids are smart.
Speaker 2:Some of their products I was like wait, can I purchase one of those? I need that too. Let's talk about some of the other opportunities that maybe you know we've got the kiddos that aren't ready for an internship or ready for job placement yet. You know, we're talking middle school, we're talking high school. There's a new acronym that I learned this week, and it's CTSO. In high school, there's a new acronym that I learned this week, and it's CTSO Career and Technical Student Organization. Janet, can you talk about what is CTSO and how does it help our students?
Speaker 3:So there are a variety of career and technical student organizations CTSOs, as you mentioned, and they relate to the pathways. So, as an example, deca is for marketing students. We'll have Stephanie talk a little bit about more of that in depth, but for each pathway they have a student organization. So these are student-run chapters. Of course, our advisors are right there to help them and they are learning leadership skills. They are also perfecting what they can do so that they can compete. We have region competitions, state competitions and the national competitions and it's really fulfilling to see, for instance, a freshman in high school who's as nervous as can be competing I've judged a lot of these competitions and then to see their growth. By the time they're a senior they've actually put together huge projects and have presented them in front of real-life judges at these state first and then national competitions. We just had our DECA competition state competition last week. Stephanie is over that area. How did that go, steph? I'd say we did pretty well. Stephanie is over that area. How'd that go, steph?
Speaker 2:I'd say we did pretty well.
Speaker 4:It went great. Yes, we actually had, I counted. Today we had 283 students from the five high schools in our district up in Leighton competing at the state conference and they did amazing. These advisors work countless hours preparing these students for these competitions.
Speaker 2:Tell me, what do they do? What does a competition look like?
Speaker 4:Great question, that's all the students want to know when they sign up for DECA.
Speaker 4:So there's kind of two different areas. Some are written projects and so these are things like business plans, career development projects. They can be up to 20 pages and the students spend a lot of time writing these and a lot of them are doing it on their own time. So it's it's pretty impressive that students will write these papers, they submit them for pre-grading and then they will present on that that paper to some judges and that's how they're judged. And then the other are called the role plays, or case studies is what we call them. And so the students are given a scenario just right, then, right before they compete, and they have about 20 minutes to prepare, and then they go on to a judge who acts as a role, as like a manager of a company, ceo, and they take on a role as you know, maybe a marketing manager or something, and then they have to problem solve right there on the spot, come up with ideas for it and present them to the judge, and they're judged that way.
Speaker 4:So that really anxiety, just thinking about it is, and they have to be quick on their feet. Some of them are team events so they can have one or two partners with them, and then some they do on their own individually. But it's just such a great way for these kids to prepare for their futures, for presenting and job interviews and all of those things that they're going to eventually have to do.
Speaker 2:And we had dozens of students who deserve a shout out. Right, right, right. We had 47.
Speaker 4:47 have already qualified for nationals, which is in April in Orlando this year.
Speaker 4:And very exciting, I've, I've gone to nationals, the last three years I've taken students from Corner Canyon as their advisor and what an awesome experience for these kids. It's honestly life-changing for them and they just love it. Janet mentioned the growth that you're able to see in students and there was a really rewarding moment for me at State. I have in students and there was a really rewarding moment for me at State. I have a cute student. She's Corner Canyon. Haley Neff is her name. She's an SBO.
Speaker 4:But, yeah, she joined DECA with me. She had a class with me her freshman year, so I got her to join and she started competing and she decided to do human resource management and her dad's an HR person and so that's what appealed to her in her first year in state. She texts me after she took eighth place in states her first year as a freshman, which is actually very impressive. A lot of these events have 40 plus in them, so she was very excited about that. And then last year as a sophomore she took fifth place and then I recorded her on stage going up to take first place in the state of Utah in human resource management.
Speaker 1:And so that was just such a great moment I know.
Speaker 4:Awesome for her and so rewarding as her advisor to see her just stick with it and keep going and learn and get better. And super rewarding, super proud of her.
Speaker 2:That's beautiful Stephanie. I think you kind of just hit the nail on the head. It's rewarding for everyone, whether you've got students in DECA, whether they're going for job placements or internships. But I'd like to ask you both what overall message you would like to share with the community, with students, with parents, about DECA, the opportunities and the programs that we have available to students.
Speaker 3:I think I would like to say CTE is not your grandma's CTE or even maybe your CTE.
Speaker 2:It's not my CTE, that's for sure.
Speaker 3:Like you mentioned earlier, it has really changed over the years. And one thing about CTE is it's not static. About the time you think you've got something figured out, well, I was a business teacher and about the time I thought I had a Microsoft figured out. Then they came out with a new version, and that is very typical of CTE it is always evolving, it is always getting better, like the birdhouse in woodshop back in the 80s is now an acoustic guitar. And so I think, just recognizing that it really has changed over the years and it's worth investigating and really finding out what opportunities are there for your students, because it's not what it was when you were in as I thought about coming on this podcast and why I love CTE so much.
Speaker 4:a lot of it comes from, in my opinion, the teachers CTE.
Speaker 4:I know I'm biased but I think CTE teachers are the best teachers and they care about these kids so much. They develop these relationships. We have pathways at all of our high schools. We have about 16 different pathways at most of them and that encourages students to take, if they're interested in business, then they take, you know, four to six courses in business to try and become a pathway completer and those show increased graduation rates. The statistics in our district our graduation rate for completers is 97.8% compared to the district average of 87.5%. And as I pondered why, why that is? Why would students who are CTE completers more likely to graduate from high school? There's a lot of different things. We're teaching them relevant things. They're excited to come to school. They're not just being lectured to all day, they're hands-on. But the reason I think personally for my 20 years of being an educator in CTE, is I think they build relationships with those teachers. If they are a pathway completer, that means they have taken three to four classes, minimum for me as a teacher, and so I've been able to build that relationship with the student.
Speaker 4:There's a quote I love by Josh Shipp that says every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story or something related to that, and I think that that's the difference. It makes they feel like they makes they feel like they belong, they feel like there's someone who cares about them, who asks them. And when those students come back to get their pathway signed by me their senior year, right before they graduate, it's so fun. I know them, I care about them, I'm giving them a hug and congratulating them on their graduation and they build that relationship with someone at the school and it's someone different for you know, we have all these different 16 areas but they find their person at the school that cares about them and mentors them and advises them and that they know is in their corner. And I think I I personally feel like that is why our students have a higher graduation rate because they feel wanted and valued at the school.
Speaker 3:Oh, a hundred percent. We have wonderful teachers and they really are gifted at that engagement piece with students, not only connecting with them on an emotional level and a personal level, but the instruction, the engagement piece is really what keeps kids going when they're feeling like, oh, what am I learning this for? They have a solid answer in their CTE classes and I think Stephanie's 100% right we have phenomenal teachers who are willing to take the time to make and build those relationships with students.
Speaker 2:You know, I think there isn't a single person who has gone through the public education system and, whether it was, they graduated last year, they graduated 10 years ago, 2030,. They remember those teachers, right? We all have at least one teacher. Oh, mr So-and-so. You know, ms So-and-so, I remember they were so great and they helped me realize that I am worth it, that it is worth it to take this time, and it's beautiful to hear these stories about our students who are experiencing that as we speak. So I just I agree. I want to shout out to all of our teachers and say thank you for the hard work that you do in getting our students college and career ready, and I want to thank both of you. You've put in the work. You know what our students need and what our local businesses are looking for so that we can prepare these students to step out into the world and take that next step on their journey.
Speaker 3:So thank you. One thing that I'd like to add too, is another thing that we do really great in our district is make sure students have the opportunity for industrylevel credentials and so when they're walking out the door they have the opportunity for an industry-recognized credential. I know the legislature is looking at a first credential, and we've been doing that for a long time in our district. Matter of fact, I just have to brag on our students a bit. Last year the students earned 701 industry credentials, and that could be from a Microsoft credential to Adobe, to cosmetology license and EMT. It goes on and on, but 701 industry recognized credentials that are really going to make a difference in these students' lives.
Speaker 3:I just had to shout out to that because, it's amazing. And again our teachers. They're preparing our students to be able to pass those credentials that mean something to our business partners.
Speaker 2:Absolutely and, like you said, gets them ready for the next step on their path. Yeah Well, thank you both for being here. I really appreciate all of this insight. It's beautiful to hear how our students are excelling in the classroom but also being ready for their next step. So thank you.
Speaker 4:Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was great and thank you for listening. If there's a topic you would like to hear discussed on the podcast, send us an email to communications at canyonsdistrictorg 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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