From Seed to Plant: How CTE Programs Grow With Students Throughout Their Education

While enrollment is open, schools like Campo Verde High School (CVHS) prioritize visiting their feeder junior high schools. Students in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs like AgriScience, Bioscience, Corporate Academy, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. (R.O.T.C.), and Sports Medicine at CVHS visited South Valley Junior High to let eighth graders fill their shoes for the day, providing opportunities for hands-on activities that plant the seeds of inspiration as they sign up for their first year of high school classes. Utilizing hands-on learning and experiential instruction, Career and Technical Education provides opportunities for students in high school to pursue career-focused education while completing their high school diploma. 

Bioscience is a CTE program exclusively offered at Campo Verde High School that is focused on math, science, and the human body to introduce a gateway to medical field opportunities. The program offers a four-year course pathway to guide students' educational journey while providing them with real-world experience. Campo Verde’s Bioscience students took a trip to South Valley to inform incoming freshmen of the classes offered and some of the skills they have learned. Demonstration booths were set up by Bioscience members to guide the junior high students with activities such as brain and heart dissection, laparoscopic viewings, CPR presentations, and more to give a basis for the topics covered in the Bioscience courses.

Chloe Bryant is a fourth-year student and now serves as president of Campo Verde’s Biomed Club as she intends to pursue a career in pulmonology. Chloe and her peers in the program have had the chance to gain certifications, go on industry tours, meet with field professionals, and participate in shadowing programs all through the connection of the Bioscience CTE program. 

Campo Verde, along with every other comprehensive high school in the district, offers a variety of CTE programs to choose from, each with diversified pathways. Campo Verde’s AgriScience brought demonstrations of welding, floriculture, and livestock to South Valley Junior High to raise awareness of opportunities within the agricultural industry, while Corporate Academy students taught about the rich experience of learning career-focused business skills. Sports Medicine presented to eighth-grade science classes about their course pathways, sharing opportunities like becoming an athletic trainer in high school. Campo Verde’s R.O.T.C. students also came to South Valley during lunch period to promote their program focused on leadership development. By visiting their feeder schools, students in CTE programs have helped junior high students learn about career readiness and the many academic opportunities like honors classes, dual-enrollment courses, and certifications available to them in high school. As eighth graders learn about each of the CTE programs offered at the high school level, a seed of inspiration is planted to help guide and grow their education toward career readiness. 

At Gilbert Public Schools, Career and Technical Education is offered at all five comprehensive high schools, with over 22 different pathways to choose from to help students prepare for career readiness. As students enroll in classes, CTE offers an opportunity to have hands-on and work-based learning. To learn more about all the CTE courses offered at Gilbert Public Schools, visit GilbertSchools.net/CTE.