By: Ashley
Greetings from the South Dakota Capitol building! This week, in an effort to assist South Dakota CTE leaders and educators in promoting CTE Month and raising awareness in their state of the vibrant, vital CTE programs here, I am conducting a media tour across the state.
We started our tour in Sioux Falls where I visited the new CTE Academy. Several members of the local media attended a tour and met with me; Dodie Bemis, the Executive Director of SDACTE; and Jim Kayl, the superintendent of the CTE Academy, for a discussion on the programs offered and the benefits for students. We visited Mitchell Technical Institute in the afternoon, meeting again with members of the media and touring the facility. MTI offers a unique element to their energy trades program—a practice arena for students to learn the skills needed to succeed as a lineman, including full-sized power poles that students are able to climb and use to learn how to apply crossbars and other elements of a power cabling. There is also an outdoor field, and off-site from the main campus the program has acquired a wind turbine in a functioning wind field that allows students to practice the skills needed to maintain and repair turbines.
The next day, we were up early to join two Watertown morning radio shows, KSDR with Jeff Anderson, and KWAT with Mike Tanner. I was joined by several teachers and administrators from Lake Area Multi-District (LAMD) and Lake Area Technical Institute (LATI). We then visited each campus for tours and to meet with a reporter from the local Watertown newspaper. At LAMD, I learned about a great career exploration course offered to freshman, enabling them to explore all 16 of the career clusters in sections of four clusters per quarter. I also had a chance to see a house built entirely by students in the construction courses and sponsored by a local contractor who provides supplies and expertise for the program. LATI, recently honored by the Aspen Institute as a top 5 college, also offers an incredible number of programs and modern facilities with the newest technology to ensure what students work with in the classroom will be what they encounter in the workforce. In all of our meetings, we endeavored to showcase innovative elements of each school, the business partnerships that are integral to ensuring the curriculums are aligned with the industry standards and trends, and the overall benefit of CTE in communities for both students and economic development.
Students in the energy trades program at Mitchell Technical Institute practice skills they would use in a career as a lineman. These jobs are in demand in South Dakota and pay a highly competitive wage. Students not only graduate with a certificate but also their CDL license as they learn to operate all the equipment lineman would use in their jobs.
Amy Miller explaining the exploratory CTE course offered at Lake Area Multi-District to freshman.