The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted how schools are revamping and expanding their vocational-education offerings, and the spotlight was on Middleton High School’s Career & Technical Education program.
The article noted how schools are giving students more opportunities to jump start their post-high school careers by working in areas including wood, metals and machinery. Middleton High School Engineering & Technology Teachers Quincy Millerjohn and Justin Zander shared their perspectives on the CTE program’s growth during their tenures.
Mr. Zander said that Middleton High School has added wood shop classes “to accommodate the 175 students who enroll each semester, up 75 from four years ago.”
Mr. Millerjohn told The Wall Street Journal: “We want kids going to college to feel these courses fit on their transcripts along with AP and honors.”
He added that careers for ironworkers, steamfitters and boilermakers “can pay anywhere from $41 to $52 an hour.”
The Wall Street Journal highlighted that “Middleton High School completed a $90 million campus overhaul in 2022 that included new technical-education facilities. The school’s shop classes, for years tucked away in a back corridor, are now on display. Fishbowl-style glass walls show off the new manufacturing lab, equipped with computer-controlled machine tools and robotic arms.”
The District’s ongoing investments in the CTE program were also highlighted. The Wall Street Journal noted the District covers annual supplies – including “$20,000 a year on wood, steel, aluminum and other materials” – and invested $600,000 to update equipment for manufacturing, woodworking and metalworking courses.
Middleton High School senior Andres Mendoza Alcala, an aspiring carpenter, shared his experience with the CTE program.
He told The Wall Street Journal, “I haven’t met a single person that looks down on someone else, just because they’re doing the trades instead of college. They just say it’s a good choice. These are secure jobs.”
Read the full article in The Wall Street Journal. (Please note a subscription is required.) Also, check out the Youth Apprenticeship website for more about Middleton High School’s CTE offerings.