Career technical centers give students a leg-up on future

HUGHESVILLE -- The director of the state Bureau of Workforce Partnerships, Ruben Pachay, got a first-hand look at what Eric Butler, executive director of Lyco CTC, meant when he said "It's all about career," when he toured the local facility Tuesday.

Speaking following the tour, Pachay praised the work being done at the center.

"An amazing experience as always," Pachay, who is visiting career technical centers throughout the state, said.

"Every time we go to a CTC, it's always great to see how students are being prepared for a career. That's exactly what the Wolf administration is trying to emphasize--the opportunity for these students to not only learn in school but actually to come out with the opportunity have a career," Pachay added.

Throughout the tour, which included seven of the eight areas offered by Lyco CTC, Pachay interacted with students in the various departments. The final stop on the tour was a visit with four senior students in the co-op program where they spend a portion of their day working outside of the school.

Brittany Blackwell, Lillian Kepner, Ethan George and Katie Fisher were all scheduled to spend the afternoon working in their areas of interest--Blackwell and Kepner, early childhood education; Ethan George, auto mechanics and Katie Fisher, health careers. They took the time to share with the members of the tour their experiences at Lyco CTC as they finish their time there. All are East Lycoming School District students.

Kepner, who was spending the rest of her day at a second grade classroom at Ferrell Elementary, detailed what goes on in the early childhood program, which is held at Ashkar Elementary School. Part of the program includes having pre-schoolers come to the school three days a week to offer the CTC students opportunities to teach.

"We're actually their teachers. Our first and second year there, you teach in that classroom and these kids will come in. You'll make your own lesson plans and you'll actually teach on your own," Kepner said.

Pachay told the students that he wished that he had the training they had when he was younger.

"I went into teaching, but in college there was a lot of the theory, but not enough of the practice," Pachay said.

"I was chewed alive on my first day of teaching. All of the theory I got was great to know, but how do you put it into practice. It was a big anomaly to me. Having that practice puts you in the right direction," he said.

Fisher, who intends to go to college for a nursing degree, noted that the classes she has taken at Lyco CTC are comparable to the first year of a college program.

Coming into Lyco is teaching me the basics of nursing and all of the stuff I would have to know in my first year of college," Fisher said.

"It gives you a step up. It teaches you what's going on in the outside world instead of what's just going on in high school," she added.

Students in the Lyco program are given the opportunity to job shadow in different areas of study to determine what they really want to do.

"I think that's the beauty of a CTC, that it's school for a period," Pachay said. "The worst case scenario is if you didn't like what you did at least you would know that."

"We've seen here already living proof of some of these students having a part-time job, going to school, being able to actually work after they graduate or proceed on to higher education," he said, noting that students taking this approach have multiple starting points for making career choices.

"We've been amazed here. I love the synergy they have here. Just the overall connectivity between programs and the overarching theme of the teachers about community. I really enjoyed hearing more than one of the teachers say the importance of the kids staying in their community--being proud of their community. Being able to have a family-sustaining wage here in their community was amazing," he stressed.

Last month during his budget address, Gov. Tom Wolf had stressed the need for the state to prepare students for the workforce. Pachay noted that so far the Wolf administration has over $64 million invested in CTC's., which also falls in line with the state's PA Smart initiative.

"What he (Wolf) has always said and tells a lot of the state agencies is the opportunity for Pennsylvania to have the most talented workforce in the country and I think CTC's are at the forefront of making that happen.

Pachay noted that the state has over 80 CTC programs.