- Video shows a look at the Esthetics, Culinary, and Automotive programs at the Jackson Area Career Center.
- Sydney Sumner, esthetics program instructor, explains how she was a former JACC student, and it helped her find the current path she's on.
- February is CTE (Career and Technical Education) Month.
February is Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month. In Jackson, students are exploring the option of skilled trades. Not long ago, Sydney Sumner, Esthetics Instructor, sat in the very same classrooms she now teaches in. "I really wasn't sure what direction I wanted to take in life," Sumner says.
Today, she's found that answer, and built the brand new Esthetics Program from the ground-up at the Jackson Area Career Center (JACC). "It really opens up a wide variety of different directions you can go in your career," continues Sumner.
The Michigan Department of Education says about 95% of high school students enrolled in a CTE program graduated last year, compared to Michigan's previous graduation rate of 81%. At JACC, students participate in over 20 programs. 90% of whom according to JACC, leave with an industry certificate or degree.
Stephen Trout, Culinary Instructor, explains, "We give them a real-life experience of what they can expect to see in the real job-world. With the culinary industry, there's a lot of shortages right now. We need cooks everywhere, so this is our opportunity to kind of funnel the new ones right into the system."
Programs also include Automotive Technology and Auto Collision Repair. Both of which have been nationally accredited by the Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Foundation. Each program provides hands-on experience for a future career, or simply something to try before committing to college. Junior, Addison, shares, "In the classroom, it's like doing papers or writing stuff down, but in here, we actually get to learn ourselves and learn our mistakes while doing it."
Throughout CTE Month, JACC is welcoming students like Sydney or Addison, who think skilled trades might be for them.
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