Picture: Aiden Behran, Owen Wolfe, and Xaden Schock
By: Tyler Myers
It’s no secret that the Wallenpaupack Area High School CTE programs are beloved by many and the pride of the district. Unlike other schools in the area, Wallenpaupack’s Career and Technical Education programs provide students with a full immersion in a career field without having to commit to a college major or undergo extensive external training. Because of this exclusivity, the CTE programs continue to grow and develop yearly. This growth can be attributed to not only an influx of transfer students from Western Wayne and Honesdale High Schools, but more importantly to the increasing amount of exposure upcoming students have to the CTE programs. This exposure is something that the CTE classes are constantly working toward whenever they have the time and opportunity.
This previous Friday was no different, as the Engineering CTE traveled to the North Primary School to attend the Career Day for the 5th grade students. The Career Day involved many different representatives from businesses in the community explaining their jobs and what their companies were to rotating classes of students. However, the engineering CTE attended in order to expose the students to the program itself and encourage them to join when they reached high school. The representatives from the engineering CTE- being Mr. Heckman, three seniors, and two juniors- presented a slideshow filled with information coupled with a plethora of example projects to show.
They brought some simpler projects- for example a foam airplane and basic 3D printed objects- for the classes to pass around and interact with. In addition to the interactive projects, the CTE students brought a working 3D printer, two robots they built and coded themselves, and- all the 5th grade students’ favorite- the CTE’s new robotic dog. After the students had listened to the presentation, they watched the robot dog perform tricks like jumping and dancing which brought about many laughs as they learned about parts of the dog. To finish their experience, the students were invited to share their name suggestions for the dog and ask questions. Ultimately, the day was a massive success for the engineering CTE, with many students ending the day with an interest in the program and creating thank you cards that were delivered at the end of the presentations
