Montezuma-Cortez High School will host its first Industry Convening at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23, in the MCHS Auditorium. The event aims to connect local businesses with the school’s Career and Technical Education programs.
The convening will showcase new and existing CTE offerings and promote collaboration with local businesses to help prepare students for successful careers after graduation.
“We really want to get people involved and really talk about different ways to engage with each of these programs,” said Brandon Thurston, Career and Technical Education director and assistant principal.
Students in the National FFA Organization already work with community mentors on supervised agricultural experiences. Other programs are seeking similar partnerships for internships and future job placements.
“Those (FFA) kids frequently have mentors in the community, or they’re going out and working with business owners on their supervised agricultural experiences,” Thurston said. “So, when they’re doing that, it’s trying to build those partnerships, helping the kids get mentors and potentially internships, job placements and those kinds of things. With FFA, they may be traveling, doing interviews, showing something, but they may have a mentor back home that’s coaching them through that. That’s not necessarily the teacher, but it’s an industry partner.”
“So really, that’s kind of the heart of it, trying to build industry partnerships around each of our career/technical education programs,” he said.
Local business owners, community members and parents are invited to explore CTE programs and learn how they can get involved by offering internships, mentorships and other opportunities. The goal is to align industry partners with programs that prepare students for high-demand, often high-wage careers.
CTE pathways seeking industry partners include business, construction trades, engineering/STEM, computer science with a focus on graphic arts and design, athletic training/health care, culinary/hospitality and a revised theater program.
“We’ve got kids going out in the community all the time, and that’s been some wonderful partnerships with locals,” Thurston said. “We’re trying to get more people involved … we want to give kids as rich of an experience as possible.”
The event will also highlight local job opportunities, including careers such as electricians and plumbers that offer strong earnings without requiring a college degree. The invitation is open not only to business owners, but also to community members and parents.
“It doesn’t have to be the owner of a business. It could be a parent of a kid who’s employed somewhere and wants to check it out. Maybe they work for an engineering firm, and they talk to their boss and they’re like, ‘Hey, this is a cool program,’” Thurston said. “We really just want to open this up and share what’s going on and invite people into the school to see what’s going on with these programs.”
For more information, contact Thurston at brandon.thurston@cortez.k12.co.us.
To attend, register online at http://bit.ly/IndustryConvening.
