LANSING, Mich. — Lansing School District officials said they value hands on training, which is why the district will be expanding its Career and Technical Education program.
One of those students currently taking advantage of the district’s CTE program is 15-year-old Ayan Kelly.
“I love to help people, and if someone I love like my family gets hurt, I would love to help them in any way I can,” Kelley said.
Kelley, a sophomore at J.W. Sexton Highs School, has had that passion for helping others for as long as she can remember, and it has motivated her to pursue a career that’s pretty hands on.
“I’d love to be a firefighter, I think it would be a great opportunity for me and would allow me to experience new things,” she said.
Kelly is already learning the firefighting ropes through the Lansing School District’s Fire Science Academy. The academy is one of six Career and Technical Education programs the district offers.
“We have a graphic and print technician program, a patient care tech, emergency medical tech, fire science academy, skills trades and construction and a business program,” said Lansing School’s CTE program Director Nicole Millsap.
Students in the programs typically spend a couple hours a day doing hands-on training at the Hill Center.
Last year, around 70 district students took advantage of CTE, and this year, that number is up to about 200, which is why the district is hoping to expand their CTE program.
“So we are creating a stand alone CTE high school, which is planed to open at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year,” Millsap said.
Unlike the district's current CTE programs, the new high school will allow students to stay at the Hill Center all day.
“So, instead of going to Hill for trades, they will go to Hill all day,” said Superintendent Ben Shuldiner. “So, they will do trades in the morning and math, science and English in the afternoon.”
We’re told each year the district will be accepting 75 freshmen in the school.
“So it will be 75 starting in the ninth grade, then next year those ninth graders will move on to 10th grade at the school, then we’ll bring in more ninth graders, and that cycle will go on until the students graduate out the four-year program,” Shuldiner said. “So, in a few years, we will have hundreds of student at the CTE school.”
The district said the CTE school won’t cost that much to start up because they already have staff and the building.
