February 26, 2025 • 25 mins
All across Canyon School District, students are working through real time scenarios with local businesses, and gaining hands-on experience through Career and Technical Education, or CTE classes and programs.
For the last week of CTE Month, we sat down with Canyons CTE Director Janet Goble and Alta High’s CTE Coordinator Stephanie Morgan to take a deeper dive into the opportunities available to students across the District.
“The mission of Canyons School District is to ensure every student will graduate college-and career-ready,” says Goble. “Not only are they getting the academic side of things, but they will also be able to qualify for a job. We’re lucky that our students get to have a whole range of experience.”
From internships to job shadows, to networking and student-run programs and competitions, Canyons teachers are working to ensure every student has the tools they need to succeed, no matter what path they choose after college.
Episode Chapters
00:48 Overview of CTE Programs
Our experts explain CTE and the many opportunities in place for Canyons students, regardless of their end goal after high school.
02:47 Hands-On Learning Experiences
We hear how CTE goes beyond the foundations of learning, providing the hands-on learning experience that will help students later in life.
06:05 Job Placements and Internships
Goble and Morgan tell us about the partnerships the District has with local businesses and how they work to provide job placement and internships for students.
14:21 Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs)
We discuss the student-run programs and other opportunities for students to participate in, including a shoutout to the 47 DECA students who placed top 3 in the state competition.
19:13 The Impact of CTE on Students
Our experts share their favorite success stories of students who have taken CTE courses or participated in the many programs available across the District.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by
Canyon School District.
This is a show about what weteach, how we teach and why we
get up close and personal withsome of the people who make our
schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more.
We meet national experts too.
Learning is about makingconnections, so connect with us.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Last week, we learned about how students across
Canyon School District can workin real-time scenarios with
local businesses, and we touchedon how Career and Technical
Education, or CTE, can helpstudents regardless of their end
goal can help studentsregardless of their end goal.
This is the last week of CTEmonth and we want to expand on
our previous episode as well astalk about the many job
(01:10):
placements and otheropportunities available to our
students.
Welcome to Connect Canyons.
I'm your host, frances Cook.
Joining me today is JanetGoebel, director of CTE for the
District, and Stephanie Morgan,cte Coordinator at Alta High
School.
Thank you both for joining us.
Thank you for inviting us,thanks for having us so we've
(01:30):
touched on this in a previousepisode, but I'd love for you to
share your insights on the CTEprograms and courses and things
that are available to our Canyonstudents.
I know that's kind of a broadquestion, but I just want to
hear what you're both excitedabout.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Well, cte is one of the a large program area.
It's pretty much all theelectives in the high schools
except for fine arts, and so wehave a variety of classes in all
of our high schools Pathways.
It's a big area, and so I wantto make sure that people are
aware that we have full-scaleprograms in our high schools as
(02:07):
well as our technical center,which houses our capstone
programs.
So they are related butdifferent at the same time.
Stephanie, do you want to jumpin and talk about your classes
at Alta High, which isrepresentative of what's
happening at the other schools?
Speaker 4 (02:25):
at Alta High, which is representative of what's
happening at the other schools.
Yeah, so I've been a businesseducator for the last 20 years
in our district and then I'verecently stepped into this new
role as the CTE coordinator atAlta High School and it has been
so great to see all thedifferent programs that we offer
up close and personal and stepfoot in other classes of my
colleagues and my different CTEteachers we offer.
(02:47):
The thing that I love the mostabout CTE is they are hands-on,
skill-based classes.
So when I walk into a CTEclassroom, the students are
engaged, they're working,they're building, they're
engaged and doing relevantthings that I love.
So it helps students get thosereal-world experiences and be
able to apply what they'relearning in their other classes
(03:08):
with hands-on experiences.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
That is so true.
I remember at Corner CanyonHigh School the principal
telling me the best math teacheron this campus is the
woodworking teacher, becausethey were building guitars from
scratch acoustic guitars and youhad to have the angles and it
was a lot of geometry and youhad to have it just right or it
wasn't going to play.
So that's a hands-on example ofapplying those core concepts.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
That's a perfect example.
You don't really think about it.
You think woodwork and youthink, oh, they're going to be
making bar stools.
But they do so much more thanthat, and especially when it
comes to a musical instrument.
You got to have thosemeasurements on point, stephanie
.
Can you dive deeper into that?
What are some examples of waysstudents are learning these?
How are they learning withthese hands-on experiences?
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Oh, there's been so many great examples that I've
experienced in the last fewmonths as a coordinator in my
culinary arts classes.
It's so great to go in thereand see them.
They're obviously using mathand their recipes and they're
creating things and cookingthings and that's just been so
fun.
Same with the sewing classes.
The engineering and roboticsprogram at Alta has really stood
(04:18):
out.
So today I was walking throughthe halls and ran into my
robotics teacher and they werewalking their robot through the
school that they had just builtand he said we built this from
scratch, like every willeverything.
They programmed it and thestudents were just.
You should have seen the lookson their faces.
They were so proud to show methey let me take over the
controller and drive it around,and that was just so fun.
(04:39):
It's so incredible to see thethings that they're doing in
these classes.
Last week I judged, for we havea game development class that
Aaron Edwards teaches and I wasable to judge their game
development.
It was kind of like a sharktank where they all have to get
in groups and design their ownvideo game and they gave a big
presentation with the charactersand a picture of what it would
(05:00):
look like and what audience theywere targeting, and I just had
no idea that we offered thesetypes of things in high school.
And there's something foreveryone, right?
There's all different studentsthat we're working with and it's
so fun to see them find theirthing that they can be
passionate about.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
You know, I think we don't realize growing up the way
we grew up, we weren't makingrobots in class or developing a
game.
You know, I think it's reallygreat to have, you know, the
ability for parents to hear thisas well, because our generation
just did not learn the same waythat these kiddos are getting
(05:39):
to learn, and it's so cool tosee how you know to age myself,
how, with the times, Canyons is.
You know, we're leading the waywhen it comes to the innovation
, the technology.
We've got the new innovationcenter coming.
Are you guys excited about that?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Yeah, can't wait.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
It's going to be beautiful to just provide even
more opportunities.
Let's take it a step further.
So the students are takingthese classes, they're learning
these hands-on experiences, butthen let's talk about job
placements and internships.
That's the next step for them,right?
How are these classes helpingthem to get there, and what
(06:19):
opportunities do we have set upfor our students when it does
come to job placements?
Speaker 3 (06:23):
You know it's interesting because the model
for Canyon School District iscollege and career ready.
So if you really take thatapart, it's kind of harder to be
college and career ready thanjust college ready, because that
involves a entry level jobskill.
So not only are they gettingthe academic side of the house,
they also have to be able toqualify for a job.
(06:46):
So a lot of our studentsparticipate in internships and
externships, depending on theprogram they're at.
Our internship coordinators doa phenomenal job in placing
students.
At Corner Canyon High SchoolI'll use that as an example we
have an internship class that wehave a lot of medical students
(07:07):
in and those are very difficultto come by, and so we're lucky
that our students get to have awhole range of experience.
Their end goals are everythingfrom oncology to mortuary
science and everything inbetween.
They also for our internshipclass.
It has to relate to theircollege and career ready plan,
sure, and so they are actuallyworking and seeking an
(07:30):
internship placement for that.
For instance, one of thebusiness students has been
interning at Universal BusinessInsurance, which goes right
along, and so they are makingthese industry connections and a
lot of times they get hiredstraight out of high school and
they're able to work there whilethey are doing their college.
(07:51):
Another great placement wasMurray Municipal Justice Court,
and so you know it's just reallyexciting to see these kids
fired up.
They're excited They've gonethrough a pathway.
And then this is the next stepAt CTEC, at our Technical
Education Center.
We see externships there.
So a student who is goingthrough, as an example, the CNA
(08:13):
program, they are doing anexternship to get their hours so
that at the end of the day theycan actually get their
certification, their statecertification, and be a licensed
CNA at the end of that program.
So that's just a couple ofexamples of how students are
launching right into theworkforce from what they are
(08:34):
learning here in our CTE classes.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And in such a broad way too.
You know, we're not justsending them out to any
willy-nilly internship just toget hours right.
It's that hands-on, like wesaid, experience with local
businesses, which is so greattoo, because we're developing
the next generation of peopleworking.
They can work right here athome, right here in their
(08:55):
backyard, or maybe they want togo somewhere else or go overseas
, but we're providing them thosetools.
That's really cool to hear.
Stephanie, what are you seeingwith students at ALTA when it
comes to job placements andinternships?
Speaker 4 (09:09):
So I was actually the internship coordinator at
Jordan High for about 10 years.
Is there anything you haven'tdone?
No, I've been around a long timesince actually before the
district was created and I lovedbeing an internship coordinator
and I loved that it gave ourstudents an opportunity.
I would always tell them it's away to test drive a career,
(09:30):
because they might have taken aclass or a few classes and they
think that that's what they wantto do, and so I would put them
out in an internship in the areaand they would come back to me
at the end of the semester.
I'd always have them present tothe middle schools and some of
the students would come backjust in love with their
internship.
They knew a hundred percentthat's what they wanted to do.
I've actually ran into some ofmy former interns, because now
(09:51):
it's been, you know, 10 plusyears.
They've been my dental hygienistwhen I went to the dentist one
time and told me they rememberdoing an internship where I've
run into them and they're now anaccountant somewhere and it's
so that's like so rewarding forme as a teacher to see that
they're doing that.
But I also had students thatcame back.
They thought they wanted to bean elementary school teacher and
then they'd come back andthey'd say I could never do that
(10:13):
every day, or they wanted to dosomething and I think that was
just as valuable, if not morevaluable that they were able to
cross something off their list,cause even as adults, a lot of
us, you know, have changes inwhat we want to do, or how many
college students change theirmajor midway, and I think giving
them that experience whenthey're in high school is so
valuable.
So I told them either way, it'sa win, whether you loved it or
(10:34):
you didn't love it, as much itwas valuable.
So that's what I love about theinternship program.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
It's not a bad thing to come back and go.
You know, maybe that's not whatI thought it was.
I had a similar experience, butmine wasn't until college, yes,
so it's really nice to hearthat they're turning that into a
learning opportunity.
And I think it's a testament tohow hard our teachers work that
you send an intern in and theygo.
Oh, these people are putting inthe work.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
So shout out to our teachers.
Well, another thing I wanted tomention is our industry
partners are really looking forworkers, A lot of our middle
skilled jobs.
They do not have the workerscoming into their, into their
jobs.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Can you expand on that a little bit?
So we have correct me if I'mright soft skills, middle skills
, and I don't remember the otherone.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Well, so what I'm referring to are middle skilled
jobs that don't require theyrequire a high school diploma.
They may or may not requiremuch college, and so these are
industry partners who justcannot fill their jobs.
So a great example of this isthe diesel industry, and they
are hurting for workers bad, andso they've partnered with us.
(11:47):
We have a great partnershipwith them, and they take our
students every week for jobshadows.
Well, not only is it a greatexperience for the students, but
I'll tell you, these industrypeople are sizing them up for
jobs, and oftentimes they gethired, and then they will pay
for their college, which isawesome, yeah, and so a student
(12:08):
can get college paid for,depending on how.
If they want to go intomanagement, they'll pay right up
through a master's degree forthese students, or if they enjoy
the hands-on mechanical work,they can do that and make six
figures within about five years,and so it's just as beneficial
for our industry partners as itis for our students.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Absolutely Opening those opportunities, getting
those conversations going.
I had the opportunity to godown to Utah County and I
believe it was Draper Parkmiddle school.
They went for kind of a sharktank deal and it was with CNBC
and they had all of these localbusinesses come in and it was
the greatest thing to witnessthese kiddos come up with their
(12:51):
product, pitch it to local.
You know entrepreneurs who havealready gone through this stage
of their lives.
But the best part to me was,after everything was said and
done, one of these students hadprinted off his own little
business cards and they were thewrong size, they were too small
and you could tell.
He cut them out himself and heput a little car on it.
But he had his name, his phonenumber and his email address and
(13:14):
he marched right up to the vicepresident of CNBC and gave her
his card and she's like well, wemight have some internships
available for you.
We might have to hire you.
I'll get in touch.
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I love it and that was it.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
That's all it took this.
This middle schooler just knewwhat he wanted and he was
willing to go for it, or atleast see if it might be
something that would interesthim down the line.
And it just was so fulfillingto see this.
These kids just take thatopportunity and run with it.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
And that's a part of our college and career awareness
course the business side of it.
They talk about beingentrepreneurs and and inventors
and doing unique things and theydo those Shark Tank type of
events.
And big shout out to PamSaltmarsh.
She's the teacher at DraperPark Middle School who put that
(14:06):
all together.
A lot of work, but howrewarding for those students and
I think the industry.
People are going holy cow thesekids are smart.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Some of their products I was like wait, can I
purchase one of those?
I need that too.
Let's talk about some of theother opportunities that maybe
you know we've got the kiddosthat aren't ready for an
internship or ready for jobplacement yet.
You know, we're talking middleschool, we're talking high
school.
There's a new acronym that Ilearned this week, and it's CTSO
.
In high school, there's a newacronym that I learned this week
, and it's CTSO Career andTechnical Student Organization.
Janet, can you talk about whatis CTSO and how does it help our
(14:42):
students?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
So there are a variety of career and technical
student organizations CTSOs, asyou mentioned, and they relate
to the pathways.
So, as an example, deca is formarketing students.
We'll have Stephanie talk alittle bit about more of that in
depth, but for each pathwaythey have a student organization
(15:05):
.
So these are student-runchapters.
Of course, our advisors areright there to help them and
they are learning leadershipskills.
They are also perfecting whatthey can do so that they can
compete.
We have region competitions,state competitions and the
national competitions and it'sreally fulfilling to see, for
(15:26):
instance, a freshman in highschool who's as nervous as can
be competing I've judged a lotof these competitions and then
to see their growth.
By the time they're a seniorthey've actually put together
huge projects and have presentedthem in front of real-life
judges at these state first andthen national competitions.
(15:48):
We just had our DECAcompetition state competition
last week.
Stephanie is over that area.
How did that go, steph?
I'd say we did pretty well.
Stephanie is over that area.
How'd that go, steph?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I'd say we did pretty well.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
It went great.
Yes, we actually had, I counted.
Today we had 283 students fromthe five high schools in our
district up in Leightoncompeting at the state
conference and they did amazing.
These advisors work countlesshours preparing these students
for these competitions.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Tell me, what do they do?
What does a competition looklike?
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Great question, that's all the students want to
know when they sign up for DECA.
So there's kind of two differentareas.
Some are written projects andso these are things like
business plans, careerdevelopment projects.
They can be up to 20 pages andthe students spend a lot of time
writing these and a lot of themare doing it on their own time.
So it's it's pretty impressivethat students will write these
(16:42):
papers, they submit them forpre-grading and then they will
present on that that paper tosome judges and that's how
they're judged.
And then the other are calledthe role plays, or case studies
is what we call them.
And so the students are given ascenario just right, then,
right before they compete, andthey have about 20 minutes to
prepare, and then they go on toa judge who acts as a role, as
(17:06):
like a manager of a company, ceo, and they take on a role as you
know, maybe a marketing manageror something, and then they
have to problem solve rightthere on the spot, come up with
ideas for it and present them tothe judge, and they're judged
that way.
So that really anxiety, justthinking about it is, and they
have to be quick on their feet.
(17:26):
Some of them are team events sothey can have one or two
partners with them, and thensome they do on their own
individually.
But it's just such a great wayfor these kids to prepare for
their futures, for presentingand job interviews and all of
those things that they're goingto eventually have to do.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
And we had dozens of students who deserve a shout out
.
Right, right, right.
We had 47.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
47 have already qualified for nationals, which
is in April in Orlando this year.
And very exciting, I've, I'vegone to nationals, the last
three years I've taken studentsfrom Corner Canyon as their
advisor and what an awesomeexperience for these kids.
It's honestly life-changing forthem and they just love it.
Janet mentioned the growth thatyou're able to see in students
(18:13):
and there was a really rewardingmoment for me at State.
I have in students and therewas a really rewarding moment
for me at State.
I have a cute student.
She's Corner Canyon.
Haley Neff is her name.
She's an SBO.
But, yeah, she joined DECA withme.
She had a class with me herfreshman year, so I got her to
join and she started competingand she decided to do human
resource management and herdad's an HR person and so that's
what appealed to her in herfirst year in state.
(18:35):
She texts me after she tookeighth place in states her first
year as a freshman, which isactually very impressive.
A lot of these events have 40plus in them, so she was very
excited about that.
And then last year as asophomore she took fifth place
and then I recorded her on stagegoing up to take first place in
the state of Utah in humanresource management.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
And so that was just such a great moment I know.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Awesome for her and so rewarding as her advisor to
see her just stick with it andkeep going and learn and get
better.
And super rewarding, superproud of her.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
That's beautiful Stephanie.
I think you kind of just hitthe nail on the head.
It's rewarding for everyone,whether you've got students in
DECA, whether they're going forjob placements or internships.
But I'd like to ask you bothwhat overall message you would
like to share with the community, with students, with parents,
about DECA, the opportunitiesand the programs that we have
(19:31):
available to students.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I think I would like to say CTE is not your grandma's
CTE or even maybe your CTE.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
It's not my CTE, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Like you mentioned earlier, it has really changed
over the years.
And one thing about CTE is it'snot static.
About the time you think you'vegot something figured out, well
, I was a business teacher andabout the time I thought I had a
Microsoft figured out.
Then they came out with a newversion, and that is very
typical of CTE it is alwaysevolving, it is always getting
(20:02):
better, like the birdhouse inwoodshop back in the 80s is now
an acoustic guitar.
And so I think, justrecognizing that it really has
changed over the years and it'sworth investigating and really
finding out what opportunitiesare there for your students,
because it's not what it waswhen you were in as I thought
(20:22):
about coming on this podcast andwhy I love CTE so much.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
a lot of it comes from, in my opinion, the
teachers CTE.
I know I'm biased but I thinkCTE teachers are the best
teachers and they care aboutthese kids so much.
They develop theserelationships.
We have pathways at all of ourhigh schools.
We have about 16 differentpathways at most of them and
that encourages students to take, if they're interested in
(20:48):
business, then they take, youknow, four to six courses in
business to try and become apathway completer and those show
increased graduation rates.
The statistics in our districtour graduation rate for
completers is 97.8% compared tothe district average of 87.5%.
And as I pondered why, why thatis?
(21:11):
Why would students who are CTEcompleters more likely to
graduate from high school?
There's a lot of differentthings.
We're teaching them relevantthings.
They're excited to come toschool.
They're not just being lecturedto all day, they're hands-on.
But the reason I thinkpersonally for my 20 years of
being an educator in CTE, is Ithink they build relationships
(21:31):
with those teachers.
If they are a pathway completer, that means they have taken
three to four classes, minimumfor me as a teacher, and so I've
been able to build thatrelationship with the student.
There's a quote I love by JoshShipp that says every kid is one
caring adult away from being asuccess story or something
related to that, and I thinkthat that's the difference.
(21:52):
It makes they feel like theymakes they feel like they belong
, they feel like there's someonewho cares about them, who asks
them.
And when those students comeback to get their pathway signed
by me their senior year, rightbefore they graduate, it's so
fun.
I know them, I care about them,I'm giving them a hug and
congratulating them on theirgraduation and they build that
relationship with someone at theschool and it's someone
(22:12):
different for you know, we haveall these different 16 areas but
they find their person at theschool that cares about them and
mentors them and advises themand that they know is in their
corner.
And I think I I personally feellike that is why our students
have a higher graduation ratebecause they feel wanted and
valued at the school.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Oh, a hundred percent .
We have wonderful teachers andthey really are gifted at that
engagement piece with students,not only connecting with them on
an emotional level and apersonal level, but the
instruction, the engagementpiece is really what keeps kids
going when they're feeling like,oh, what am I learning this for
?
They have a solid answer intheir CTE classes and I think
(22:53):
Stephanie's 100% right we havephenomenal teachers who are
willing to take the time to makeand build those relationships
with students.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
You know, I think there isn't a single person who
has gone through the publiceducation system and, whether it
was, they graduated last year,they graduated 10 years ago,
2030,.
They remember those teachers,right?
We all have at least oneteacher.
Oh, mr So-and-so.
(23:23):
You know, ms So-and-so, Iremember they were so great and
they helped me realize that I amworth it, that it is worth it
to take this time, and it'sbeautiful to hear these stories
about our students who areexperiencing that as we speak.
So I just I agree.
I want to shout out to all ofour teachers and say thank you
(23:45):
for the hard work that you do ingetting our students college
and career ready, and I want tothank both of you.
You've put in the work.
You know what our students needand what our local businesses
are looking for so that we canprepare these students to step
out into the world and take thatnext step on their journey.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
So thank you.
One thing that I'd like to addtoo, is another thing that we do
really great in our district ismake sure students have the
opportunity for industrylevelcredentials and so when they're
walking out the door they havethe opportunity for an
industry-recognized credential.
I know the legislature islooking at a first credential,
(24:25):
and we've been doing that for along time in our district.
Matter of fact, I just have tobrag on our students a bit.
Last year the students earned701 industry credentials, and
that could be from a Microsoftcredential to Adobe, to
cosmetology license and EMT.
It goes on and on, but 701industry recognized credentials
(24:49):
that are really going to make adifference in these students'
lives.
I just had to shout out to thatbecause, it's amazing.
And again our teachers.
They're preparing our studentsto be able to pass those
credentials that mean somethingto our business partners.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Absolutely and, like you said, gets them ready for
the next step on their path.
Yeah Well, thank you both forbeing here.
I really appreciate all of thisinsight.
It's beautiful to hear how ourstudents are excelling in the
classroom but also being readyfor their next step.
So thank you.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yes, it was great and thank you for listening.
If there's a topic you wouldlike to hear discussed on the
podcast, send us an email tocommunications at
canyonsdistrictorg on thepodcast.
Send us an email tocommunications at
canyonsdistrictorg.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect
Canyons.
Connect with us on Twitter,facebook or Instagram at Canyons
District or on our website,canyonsdistrictorg.
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by
Canyon School District.
This is a show about what weteach, how we teach and why we
get up close and personal withsome of the people who make our
schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more.
We meet national experts too.
Learning is about makingconnections, so connect with us.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Last week, we learned about how students across
Canyon School District can workin real-time scenarios with
local businesses, and we touchedon how Career and Technical
Education, or CTE, can helpstudents regardless of their end
goal can help studentsregardless of their end goal.
This is the last week of CTEmonth and we want to expand on
our previous episode as well astalk about the many job
(01:10):
placements and otheropportunities available to our
students.
Welcome to Connect Canyons.
I'm your host, frances Cook.
Joining me today is JanetGoebel, director of CTE for the
District, and Stephanie Morgan,cte Coordinator at Alta High
School.
Thank you both for joining us.
Thank you for inviting us,thanks for having us so we've
(01:30):
touched on this in a previousepisode, but I'd love for you to
share your insights on the CTEprograms and courses and things
that are available to our Canyonstudents.
I know that's kind of a broadquestion, but I just want to
hear what you're both excitedabout.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Well, cte is one of the a large program area.
It's pretty much all theelectives in the high schools
except for fine arts, and so wehave a variety of classes in all
of our high schools Pathways.
It's a big area, and so I wantto make sure that people are
aware that we have full-scaleprograms in our high schools as
(02:07):
well as our technical center,which houses our capstone
programs.
So they are related butdifferent at the same time.
Stephanie, do you want to jumpin and talk about your classes
at Alta High, which isrepresentative of what's
happening at the other schools?
Speaker 4 (02:25):
at Alta High, which is representative of what's
happening at the other schools.
Yeah, so I've been a businesseducator for the last 20 years
in our district and then I'verecently stepped into this new
role as the CTE coordinator atAlta High School and it has been
so great to see all thedifferent programs that we offer
up close and personal and stepfoot in other classes of my
colleagues and my different CTEteachers we offer.
(02:47):
The thing that I love the mostabout CTE is they are hands-on,
skill-based classes.
So when I walk into a CTEclassroom, the students are
engaged, they're working,they're building, they're
engaged and doing relevantthings that I love.
So it helps students get thosereal-world experiences and be
able to apply what they'relearning in their other classes
(03:08):
with hands-on experiences.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
That is so true.
I remember at Corner CanyonHigh School the principal
telling me the best math teacheron this campus is the
woodworking teacher, becausethey were building guitars from
scratch acoustic guitars and youhad to have the angles and it
was a lot of geometry and youhad to have it just right or it
wasn't going to play.
So that's a hands-on example ofapplying those core concepts.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
That's a perfect example.
You don't really think about it.
You think woodwork and youthink, oh, they're going to be
making bar stools.
But they do so much more thanthat, and especially when it
comes to a musical instrument.
You got to have thosemeasurements on point, stephanie
.
Can you dive deeper into that?
What are some examples of waysstudents are learning these?
How are they learning withthese hands-on experiences?
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Oh, there's been so many great examples that I've
experienced in the last fewmonths as a coordinator in my
culinary arts classes.
It's so great to go in thereand see them.
They're obviously using mathand their recipes and they're
creating things and cookingthings and that's just been so
fun.
Same with the sewing classes.
The engineering and roboticsprogram at Alta has really stood
(04:18):
out.
So today I was walking throughthe halls and ran into my
robotics teacher and they werewalking their robot through the
school that they had just builtand he said we built this from
scratch, like every willeverything.
They programmed it and thestudents were just.
You should have seen the lookson their faces.
They were so proud to show methey let me take over the
controller and drive it around,and that was just so fun.
(04:39):
It's so incredible to see thethings that they're doing in
these classes.
Last week I judged, for we havea game development class that
Aaron Edwards teaches and I wasable to judge their game
development.
It was kind of like a sharktank where they all have to get
in groups and design their ownvideo game and they gave a big
presentation with the charactersand a picture of what it would
(05:00):
look like and what audience theywere targeting, and I just had
no idea that we offered thesetypes of things in high school.
And there's something foreveryone, right?
There's all different studentsthat we're working with and it's
so fun to see them find theirthing that they can be
passionate about.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
You know, I think we don't realize growing up the way
we grew up, we weren't makingrobots in class or developing a
game.
You know, I think it's reallygreat to have, you know, the
ability for parents to hear thisas well, because our generation
just did not learn the same waythat these kiddos are getting
(05:39):
to learn, and it's so cool tosee how you know to age myself,
how, with the times, Canyons is.
You know, we're leading the waywhen it comes to the innovation
, the technology.
We've got the new innovationcenter coming.
Are you guys excited about that?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Yeah, can't wait.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
It's going to be beautiful to just provide even
more opportunities.
Let's take it a step further.
So the students are takingthese classes, they're learning
these hands-on experiences, butthen let's talk about job
placements and internships.
That's the next step for them,right?
How are these classes helpingthem to get there, and what
(06:19):
opportunities do we have set upfor our students when it does
come to job placements?
Speaker 3 (06:23):
You know it's interesting because the model
for Canyon School District iscollege and career ready.
So if you really take thatapart, it's kind of harder to be
college and career ready thanjust college ready, because that
involves a entry level jobskill.
So not only are they gettingthe academic side of the house,
they also have to be able toqualify for a job.
(06:46):
So a lot of our studentsparticipate in internships and
externships, depending on theprogram they're at.
Our internship coordinators doa phenomenal job in placing
students.
At Corner Canyon High SchoolI'll use that as an example we
have an internship class that wehave a lot of medical students
(07:07):
in and those are very difficultto come by, and so we're lucky
that our students get to have awhole range of experience.
Their end goals are everythingfrom oncology to mortuary
science and everything inbetween.
They also for our internshipclass.
It has to relate to theircollege and career ready plan,
sure, and so they are actuallyworking and seeking an
(07:30):
internship placement for that.
For instance, one of thebusiness students has been
interning at Universal BusinessInsurance, which goes right
along, and so they are makingthese industry connections and a
lot of times they get hiredstraight out of high school and
they're able to work there whilethey are doing their college.
(07:51):
Another great placement wasMurray Municipal Justice Court,
and so you know it's just reallyexciting to see these kids
fired up.
They're excited They've gonethrough a pathway.
And then this is the next stepAt CTEC, at our Technical
Education Center.
We see externships there.
So a student who is goingthrough, as an example, the CNA
(08:13):
program, they are doing anexternship to get their hours so
that at the end of the day theycan actually get their
certification, their statecertification, and be a licensed
CNA at the end of that program.
So that's just a couple ofexamples of how students are
launching right into theworkforce from what they are
(08:34):
learning here in our CTE classes.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And in such a broad way too.
You know, we're not justsending them out to any
willy-nilly internship just toget hours right.
It's that hands-on, like wesaid, experience with local
businesses, which is so greattoo, because we're developing
the next generation of peopleworking.
They can work right here athome, right here in their
(08:55):
backyard, or maybe they want togo somewhere else or go overseas
, but we're providing them thosetools.
That's really cool to hear.
Stephanie, what are you seeingwith students at ALTA when it
comes to job placements andinternships?
Speaker 4 (09:09):
So I was actually the internship coordinator at
Jordan High for about 10 years.
Is there anything you haven'tdone?
No, I've been around a long timesince actually before the
district was created and I lovedbeing an internship coordinator
and I loved that it gave ourstudents an opportunity.
I would always tell them it's away to test drive a career,
(09:30):
because they might have taken aclass or a few classes and they
think that that's what they wantto do, and so I would put them
out in an internship in the areaand they would come back to me
at the end of the semester.
I'd always have them present tothe middle schools and some of
the students would come backjust in love with their
internship.
They knew a hundred percentthat's what they wanted to do.
I've actually ran into some ofmy former interns, because now
(09:51):
it's been, you know, 10 plusyears.
They've been my dental hygienistwhen I went to the dentist one
time and told me they rememberdoing an internship where I've
run into them and they're now anaccountant somewhere and it's
so that's like so rewarding forme as a teacher to see that
they're doing that.
But I also had students thatcame back.
They thought they wanted to bean elementary school teacher and
then they'd come back andthey'd say I could never do that
(10:13):
every day, or they wanted to dosomething and I think that was
just as valuable, if not morevaluable that they were able to
cross something off their list,cause even as adults, a lot of
us, you know, have changes inwhat we want to do, or how many
college students change theirmajor midway, and I think giving
them that experience whenthey're in high school is so
valuable.
So I told them either way, it'sa win, whether you loved it or
(10:34):
you didn't love it, as much itwas valuable.
So that's what I love about theinternship program.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
It's not a bad thing to come back and go.
You know, maybe that's not whatI thought it was.
I had a similar experience, butmine wasn't until college, yes,
so it's really nice to hearthat they're turning that into a
learning opportunity.
And I think it's a testament tohow hard our teachers work that
you send an intern in and theygo.
Oh, these people are putting inthe work.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
So shout out to our teachers.
Well, another thing I wanted tomention is our industry
partners are really looking forworkers, A lot of our middle
skilled jobs.
They do not have the workerscoming into their, into their
jobs.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Can you expand on that a little bit?
So we have correct me if I'mright soft skills, middle skills
, and I don't remember the otherone.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Well, so what I'm referring to are middle skilled
jobs that don't require theyrequire a high school diploma.
They may or may not requiremuch college, and so these are
industry partners who justcannot fill their jobs.
So a great example of this isthe diesel industry, and they
are hurting for workers bad, andso they've partnered with us.
(11:47):
We have a great partnershipwith them, and they take our
students every week for jobshadows.
Well, not only is it a greatexperience for the students, but
I'll tell you, these industrypeople are sizing them up for
jobs, and oftentimes they gethired, and then they will pay
for their college, which isawesome, yeah, and so a student
(12:08):
can get college paid for,depending on how.
If they want to go intomanagement, they'll pay right up
through a master's degree forthese students, or if they enjoy
the hands-on mechanical work,they can do that and make six
figures within about five years,and so it's just as beneficial
for our industry partners as itis for our students.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Absolutely Opening those opportunities, getting
those conversations going.
I had the opportunity to godown to Utah County and I
believe it was Draper Parkmiddle school.
They went for kind of a sharktank deal and it was with CNBC
and they had all of these localbusinesses come in and it was
the greatest thing to witnessthese kiddos come up with their
(12:51):
product, pitch it to local.
You know entrepreneurs who havealready gone through this stage
of their lives.
But the best part to me was,after everything was said and
done, one of these students hadprinted off his own little
business cards and they were thewrong size, they were too small
and you could tell.
He cut them out himself and heput a little car on it.
But he had his name, his phonenumber and his email address and
(13:14):
he marched right up to the vicepresident of CNBC and gave her
his card and she's like well, wemight have some internships
available for you.
We might have to hire you.
I'll get in touch.
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I love it and that was it.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
That's all it took this.
This middle schooler just knewwhat he wanted and he was
willing to go for it, or atleast see if it might be
something that would interesthim down the line.
And it just was so fulfillingto see this.
These kids just take thatopportunity and run with it.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
And that's a part of our college and career awareness
course the business side of it.
They talk about beingentrepreneurs and and inventors
and doing unique things and theydo those Shark Tank type of
events.
And big shout out to PamSaltmarsh.
She's the teacher at DraperPark Middle School who put that
(14:06):
all together.
A lot of work, but howrewarding for those students and
I think the industry.
People are going holy cow thesekids are smart.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Some of their products I was like wait, can I
purchase one of those?
I need that too.
Let's talk about some of theother opportunities that maybe
you know we've got the kiddosthat aren't ready for an
internship or ready for jobplacement yet.
You know, we're talking middleschool, we're talking high
school.
There's a new acronym that Ilearned this week, and it's CTSO
.
In high school, there's a newacronym that I learned this week
, and it's CTSO Career andTechnical Student Organization.
Janet, can you talk about whatis CTSO and how does it help our
(14:42):
students?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
So there are a variety of career and technical
student organizations CTSOs, asyou mentioned, and they relate
to the pathways.
So, as an example, deca is formarketing students.
We'll have Stephanie talk alittle bit about more of that in
depth, but for each pathwaythey have a student organization
(15:05):
.
So these are student-runchapters.
Of course, our advisors areright there to help them and
they are learning leadershipskills.
They are also perfecting whatthey can do so that they can
compete.
We have region competitions,state competitions and the
national competitions and it'sreally fulfilling to see, for
(15:26):
instance, a freshman in highschool who's as nervous as can
be competing I've judged a lotof these competitions and then
to see their growth.
By the time they're a seniorthey've actually put together
huge projects and have presentedthem in front of real-life
judges at these state first andthen national competitions.
(15:48):
We just had our DECAcompetition state competition
last week.
Stephanie is over that area.
How did that go, steph?
I'd say we did pretty well.
Stephanie is over that area.
How'd that go, steph?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I'd say we did pretty well.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
It went great.
Yes, we actually had, I counted.
Today we had 283 students fromthe five high schools in our
district up in Leightoncompeting at the state
conference and they did amazing.
These advisors work countlesshours preparing these students
for these competitions.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Tell me, what do they do?
What does a competition looklike?
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Great question, that's all the students want to
know when they sign up for DECA.
So there's kind of two differentareas.
Some are written projects andso these are things like
business plans, careerdevelopment projects.
They can be up to 20 pages andthe students spend a lot of time
writing these and a lot of themare doing it on their own time.
So it's it's pretty impressivethat students will write these
(16:42):
papers, they submit them forpre-grading and then they will
present on that that paper tosome judges and that's how
they're judged.
And then the other are calledthe role plays, or case studies
is what we call them.
And so the students are given ascenario just right, then,
right before they compete, andthey have about 20 minutes to
prepare, and then they go on toa judge who acts as a role, as
(17:06):
like a manager of a company, ceo, and they take on a role as you
know, maybe a marketing manageror something, and then they
have to problem solve rightthere on the spot, come up with
ideas for it and present them tothe judge, and they're judged
that way.
So that really anxiety, justthinking about it is, and they
have to be quick on their feet.
(17:26):
Some of them are team events sothey can have one or two
partners with them, and thensome they do on their own
individually.
But it's just such a great wayfor these kids to prepare for
their futures, for presentingand job interviews and all of
those things that they're goingto eventually have to do.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
And we had dozens of students who deserve a shout out
.
Right, right, right.
We had 47.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
47 have already qualified for nationals, which
is in April in Orlando this year.
And very exciting, I've, I'vegone to nationals, the last
three years I've taken studentsfrom Corner Canyon as their
advisor and what an awesomeexperience for these kids.
It's honestly life-changing forthem and they just love it.
Janet mentioned the growth thatyou're able to see in students
(18:13):
and there was a really rewardingmoment for me at State.
I have in students and therewas a really rewarding moment
for me at State.
I have a cute student.
She's Corner Canyon.
Haley Neff is her name.
She's an SBO.
But, yeah, she joined DECA withme.
She had a class with me herfreshman year, so I got her to
join and she started competingand she decided to do human
resource management and herdad's an HR person and so that's
what appealed to her in herfirst year in state.
(18:35):
She texts me after she tookeighth place in states her first
year as a freshman, which isactually very impressive.
A lot of these events have 40plus in them, so she was very
excited about that.
And then last year as asophomore she took fifth place
and then I recorded her on stagegoing up to take first place in
the state of Utah in humanresource management.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
And so that was just such a great moment I know.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Awesome for her and so rewarding as her advisor to
see her just stick with it andkeep going and learn and get
better.
And super rewarding, superproud of her.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
That's beautiful Stephanie.
I think you kind of just hitthe nail on the head.
It's rewarding for everyone,whether you've got students in
DECA, whether they're going forjob placements or internships.
But I'd like to ask you bothwhat overall message you would
like to share with the community, with students, with parents,
about DECA, the opportunitiesand the programs that we have
(19:31):
available to students.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I think I would like to say CTE is not your grandma's
CTE or even maybe your CTE.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
It's not my CTE, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Like you mentioned earlier, it has really changed
over the years.
And one thing about CTE is it'snot static.
About the time you think you'vegot something figured out, well
, I was a business teacher andabout the time I thought I had a
Microsoft figured out.
Then they came out with a newversion, and that is very
typical of CTE it is alwaysevolving, it is always getting
(20:02):
better, like the birdhouse inwoodshop back in the 80s is now
an acoustic guitar.
And so I think, justrecognizing that it really has
changed over the years and it'sworth investigating and really
finding out what opportunitiesare there for your students,
because it's not what it waswhen you were in as I thought
(20:22):
about coming on this podcast andwhy I love CTE so much.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
a lot of it comes from, in my opinion, the
teachers CTE.
I know I'm biased but I thinkCTE teachers are the best
teachers and they care aboutthese kids so much.
They develop theserelationships.
We have pathways at all of ourhigh schools.
We have about 16 differentpathways at most of them and
that encourages students to take, if they're interested in
(20:48):
business, then they take, youknow, four to six courses in
business to try and become apathway completer and those show
increased graduation rates.
The statistics in our districtour graduation rate for
completers is 97.8% compared tothe district average of 87.5%.
And as I pondered why, why thatis?
(21:11):
Why would students who are CTEcompleters more likely to
graduate from high school?
There's a lot of differentthings.
We're teaching them relevantthings.
They're excited to come toschool.
They're not just being lecturedto all day, they're hands-on.
But the reason I thinkpersonally for my 20 years of
being an educator in CTE, is Ithink they build relationships
(21:31):
with those teachers.
If they are a pathway completer, that means they have taken
three to four classes, minimumfor me as a teacher, and so I've
been able to build thatrelationship with the student.
There's a quote I love by JoshShipp that says every kid is one
caring adult away from being asuccess story or something
related to that, and I thinkthat that's the difference.
(21:52):
It makes they feel like theymakes they feel like they belong
, they feel like there's someonewho cares about them, who asks
them.
And when those students comeback to get their pathway signed
by me their senior year, rightbefore they graduate, it's so
fun.
I know them, I care about them,I'm giving them a hug and
congratulating them on theirgraduation and they build that
relationship with someone at theschool and it's someone
(22:12):
different for you know, we haveall these different 16 areas but
they find their person at theschool that cares about them and
mentors them and advises themand that they know is in their
corner.
And I think I I personally feellike that is why our students
have a higher graduation ratebecause they feel wanted and
valued at the school.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Oh, a hundred percent .
We have wonderful teachers andthey really are gifted at that
engagement piece with students,not only connecting with them on
an emotional level and apersonal level, but the
instruction, the engagementpiece is really what keeps kids
going when they're feeling like,oh, what am I learning this for
?
They have a solid answer intheir CTE classes and I think
(22:53):
Stephanie's 100% right we havephenomenal teachers who are
willing to take the time to makeand build those relationships
with students.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
You know, I think there isn't a single person who
has gone through the publiceducation system and, whether it
was, they graduated last year,they graduated 10 years ago,
2030,.
They remember those teachers,right?
We all have at least oneteacher.
Oh, mr So-and-so.
(23:23):
You know, ms So-and-so, Iremember they were so great and
they helped me realize that I amworth it, that it is worth it
to take this time, and it'sbeautiful to hear these stories
about our students who areexperiencing that as we speak.
So I just I agree.
I want to shout out to all ofour teachers and say thank you
(23:45):
for the hard work that you do ingetting our students college
and career ready, and I want tothank both of you.
You've put in the work.
You know what our students needand what our local businesses
are looking for so that we canprepare these students to step
out into the world and take thatnext step on their journey.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
So thank you.
One thing that I'd like to addtoo, is another thing that we do
really great in our district ismake sure students have the
opportunity for industrylevelcredentials and so when they're
walking out the door they havethe opportunity for an
industry-recognized credential.
I know the legislature islooking at a first credential,
(24:25):
and we've been doing that for along time in our district.
Matter of fact, I just have tobrag on our students a bit.
Last year the students earned701 industry credentials, and
that could be from a Microsoftcredential to Adobe, to
cosmetology license and EMT.
It goes on and on, but 701industry recognized credentials
(24:49):
that are really going to make adifference in these students'
lives.
I just had to shout out to thatbecause, it's amazing.
And again our teachers.
They're preparing our studentsto be able to pass those
credentials that mean somethingto our business partners.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Absolutely and, like you said, gets them ready for
the next step on their path.
Yeah Well, thank you both forbeing here.
I really appreciate all of thisinsight.
It's beautiful to hear how ourstudents are excelling in the
classroom but also being readyfor their next step.
So thank you.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yes, it was great and thank you for listening.
If there's a topic you wouldlike to hear discussed on the
podcast, send us an email tocommunications at
canyonsdistrictorg on thepodcast.
Send us an email tocommunications at
canyonsdistrictorg.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect
Canyons.
Connect with us on Twitter,facebook or Instagram at Canyons
District or on our website,canyonsdistrictorg.
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