Vienna High School students in the Career and Technical Education programs - or CTE - showed off their skills for incoming 8th graders. Phillip Hosfeldt is the Dean of System Programs with Vienna High School and says it was part of their first CTE Day. It gave students a chance to start thinking about the hands-on opportunities they’ll have when they get to high school.
Hosfeldt explained some of the work the students were doing, "In our industrial arts and aviation room, there are kids that are currently doing small construction activities and also basically doing some drone flying"
Hosfeldt says CTE classes are clusters of classes focused on preparing students for potential careers.
Parker Trovillion is a senior at Vienna. He’s in the school’s aviation program. He’s excited to use his experiences when he studies aerospace engineering next year at the University of Kentucky.
But today, he’s showing students some of the activities he’s been working on the past two years, "My favorite activity was definitely doing the physics section. Basically they would give you a scenario, 'If the plane went inverted at this point, what would happen to the plane if it approached 1000ft? Could you control the aircraft at that at that height, or would you have to do something else to figure it out?"
Hosfeldt and school leaders want students to start thinking about the opportunities the classes can provide, "It lets them know from an early age, from when I come in as my day one, as a freshman year, I have an opportunity to take classes that will impact me for the rest of my life."
Reagan Johnson is one of those students who used the opportunities to get a leg up on her career. She graduated from Vienna in 2020.
When she graduated, not only did she complete the school’s social work program, she also earned her associates degree from Shawnee Community College. That allowed her to complete bachelor degrees in criminal justice and social work from Murray State in just 5 semesters. Once she finished, she earned a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Kentucky.
Now just 4 years later, she’s back at Vienna High School as director of community schooling, helping students find the same opportunities she had, "I think it's important for a lot of different reasons. I think not only did it save me money, I got through college a lot faster than I normally would have. It helped me gain just that real life experience and helped pinpoint what I wanted to do."
That’s the goal the school has for students like Parker as he finishes high school and prepares for what’s next.
Parker is excited to share his experiences with the 8th graders, "I would not be where I am today if I was not involved in all these classes and all these clubs. I love every second of it."
And by starting now, Vienna leaders hope students can begin setting their sights on future success.
