Legislators tour unique career and technical education program

Three members of the House Education Committee toured the Career Technical Education Center on Thursday in Salem. “We’ve been exploring all the options for CTE,” said committee Vice-Chair Rep. Carl Wilson (R-Grants Pass). “CTE is the wave of the future, and we want to see who does it right.” The center is a unique public-private partnership between the Salem-Keizer School District and the Mountain West Career Technical Institute. The center opened in 2015, and it offers programs in manufacturing, construction, cosmetology and 3D design. It plans to add two programs a year, with a goal of 10 programs. Students spend 2.5 days a week there, with math, science and English classes taught on site in a way that reinforces the technical skills. (Photos by Jake Arnold, OSBA)

House Education Committee Chair Rep. Margaret Doherty (D-Tigard) wears safety glasses for the construction area of the Career Technical Education Center, where students learn how to build a house from the ground up.
Rep. Carl Wilson (R-Grants Pass) listens to one of the tour guides, McNary High School Senior Sam Elder, in the manufacturing area of the Career Technical Education Center. Students design and build metal products that they sell to help support the program.
Rep. Janeen Sollman (D-Hillsboro) admires some of the drawings done for the first stages of a 3D design class project at the Career Technical Education Center.