Career Tech-Ed in the southwest metro
CHASKA, Minn. -- Chanhassen High School senior Kaitlyn Stroeing snips with precision at a lock of hair as her teacher David Fuller looks on with an expert eye.
"Beautiful," he proclaims as she adjusts her angle to the required 90 degrees for the proper cut.
In a commercial cosmetology program, this kind of trainings costs thousands of dollars, but because Stroeing is getting her feet wet through a class at the Carver Scott Educational Cooperative for Career Tech-Education, all she pays is fee for is supplies.
"I'll be saving a couple of grand," said Stroeing, who plans to start a full cosmetology training program this summer. She'll also save a few months, as her classes at the Carver Scott Cooperative will earn her credit in the post secondary program, which requires more than 1500 hours of training.
"Not everyone is meant to go to a four year college," said Fuller, who teaches the class.
He's a champion of the Carver Scott Educational Cooperative, which also offers classes in criminal justice, photography, graphic arts, auto mechanics, construction, agriculture, computer repair and more.
Fuller sees the venture as a good deal for students, and necessary to keep the economy humming.
"Who's gonna, you know, fix our electric when it goes out? Who's going to fix our plumbing, let alone do our hair?" he asked.
The point is, there are highly technical fields that offer jobs with living wages that a four year college may never address.
Educational cooperatives at the high school level are a dying breed. Some colleges offer programs, but those essentially take the student, at least part-time, out of the school district, and with them, state aid for districts.
The Carver Scott Educational Cooperative brings students and programs under one roof, serving students in District 112, Shakopee, Waconia, Jordan, Belle Plaine, New Prague, Prior Lake-Savage, Watertown-Mayer and Central District 108.
Principal Cindy Walters says the goal is "to provide programming for students that they (the districts) cannot afford or don't have enough clients to do in their own school."
That means Chanhassen High School senior Iloriem Peña wouldn't be able to take the advanced photography course she's now enrolled in.
"It's my favorite class that I take throughout my whole day," said Pena.
Like many students, she catches a bus at her school, comes to Chaska, takes her class, and then returns to her home school. Some students have to provide their own transportation. All must find room in their regular school schedules to add the classes as electives in their junior and senior years.
The payoff can be big. The school has articulation agreements with many colleges, and professional training programs. That means students will receive credit, and a break on tuition costs as they move on beyond their high school careers.
It also gives students a chance to "try out" a field of study before they fully commit to it.
"Once I got into it, I fell in love with it," said Stroeing, who now wants to own her own hair salon one day.
Lee Berger, who teaches automotive technology sees similar sparks among his own students.
"Some of them are really in tune with using hand tools and basic things that they do, and other students don't know what a screwdriver is, or what a socket is. So there's good, meaningful learning for everyone," Berger said.
RELATED LINK:
Carver Scott Educational Cooperative
(Copyright 2012 by KARE. All rights reserved.)