(upbeat music) - Hello Alabama, I'm Dr. Jimmy Hull, assistant state superintendent and the state CTE and workforce development director for the Alabama State Department of Education.

In this video, we are going to highlight students, teachers, administrators, and alumni from around the state, who are taking exceptional and extraordinary measures to further our students' education.

The goal is every child, every chance, every day.

It is our hope to reach every student and help prepare them for what's next.

We want all students to be ready and that is why our state has career and technical education courses that middle and high school students can sign up for.

In Alabama, we organize these courses around 16 career clusters.

In the next half hour, we will show you eight of the top programs from Florence to Mobile, and how our state's educators are putting Alabama's workforce on the map.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - So we're not the largest city in the state, we're not even in the top five.

Our high school is the smallest 7A school in the state, and we have been for a while, but it's a pretty amazing the amount of opportunities that we're able to provide our students with the limited amount of population that we have.

- STEM technologies is the cluster that we're in here, and the idea is you have a seventh and eighth grader that comes in to this area and they don't really know what they want to do and we introduce them to a large variety of careers and technologies that are available.

- What got me interested is the different projects that we do in here.

I've heard many good things about them and I wanted to try them out myself.

- My goal is to take every student when they walk in the room, no matter what their background is and to see 'em grow and give 'em the confidence to be able to go on into a career later on in life and be successful.

- Without teachers like Dr. Morgan, I wouldn't know what's out there, I wouldn't know all the types of jobs that are available.

- So without STEM, you cannot advance in society.

Of course, arts are really, really important because they're what allow your society to flourish.

But technology and STEM is the backbone of your society.

We wouldn't even be recording this video if we didn't have enough scientific advancements to be able to do this.

- What I like about STEM is that it applies what students have learned in their math and science classes.

They get to actually see how those things work in real life.

- So my intention is to major in costume designing because I love focusing on historical fashion.

I love doing anything whimsical, but I also love adding technological elements.

So I love being able to make my garments move.

I'd love to be able to add technology and robotic parts to my outfits.

I can make my own rules, I can use technology to draft my own patterns, sell my own merchandise.

- You know, sometimes kids, they think I can't do that.

In my research I found out that that's why a lot of students don't sign up for engineering in the first place, is they think it's too hard.

But the message I want to get across is that we're all engineers in some way, on some level, and what I have to offer you is something that would be valuable to you no matter what career you go into, whether that be engineering or something else.

- We want our students to graduate, not only with the high school diploma but something else that's gonna make them a more independently productive employee, in whatever career it is they choose.

We know that a four year institution might not be for everybody.

We don't want people to get into student loan debt.

We're trying to redefine what the word college means to our students.

College is not necessarily a four year brick and mortar institution.

College is whatever you do after graduation that will prepare you for the next phase of your career, make you more, we try to use the word, independently productive employee.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - The human services cluster at Limestone County consists of family consumer sciences, culinary arts, and then this program, cosmetology program.

- In our salon, we offer all services that you can get done in a salon in the state of Alabama.

So hair, nails, and skin.

(upbeat music) We start out our students here at the 10th grade level, so they're very young, we have some that's even 14 years old.

They're really nervous, they're really insecure.

We do like a read, watch and do format, and to get to see them develop their skills and their confidence, then to see them succeed is what keeps me going.

- Once I came into cosmetology, I thought that I would have to go into college and do more, but no, they're like, oh no, you could just go get your license and go straight to the workforce.

I was like, oh that's really nice, that's nice to hear.

- So being able to get my license straight outta high school was super beneficial to me because I knew that I could get closer to my career even quicker.

I didn't have to, not that school's a waste, but waste a few years, spend the money going to school, I was able to jumpstart into my career at the young age of 17 or 18.

- I get to take these students and show them that there is a very rewarding career in helping others feel great about their self and that selflessness, that act alone, is very rewarding personally as well as financially.

- So I own a salon and day spa here in Athens, Alabama.

It is the most rewarding thing I've ever done.

I get to love on my employees, love on my clients, just make a positive impact in my community.

- Oh, I loved tech school.

This was so awesome.

It was absolutely perfect for someone like me who couldn't sit still in a desk at their home school.

So it was something that I could put my hands in and stand up and be treated more maturely at the age that I was at.

So I enjoyed every minute of coming here.

- The education is a journey and all journeys has a beginning point and hopefully, there's not really an ending point because you just keep going.

- It all started here, it all just started at this little tech school.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - This is our modern manufacturing program.

It's an industry-led program.

We worked with our West Alabama Works when they expressed a huge need for people in the workforce pipeline and met for days, planning out what they felt like they needed from a youngster who came directly out of high school and went to work.

- And they built it at first for industrial maintenance and they came back and said, hey, we have plenty of maintenance, we need production workers, and what do we need from the production workers?

We need them to be able to use tools.

So we actually start with construction and then we get into MSSC, safety, quality, processes, and maintenance.

And then we end with an Alabama program called Ready to Work that gets 'em into interviewing, putting in applications, their employment forms, and actually how to file taxes.

So we're trying to get the whole student ready for work and understanding if they want to go into manufacturing or not.

- So we're learning to make money up here and how to talk to people and meet new people and people who can get us jobs in the future.

I wanna be a machinist.

The goal is to make machine motors and to machine wheels and things for cars in the future, but I gotta start here.

- Here in West Alabama, the primary manufacturing driver is Mercedes-Benz.

Now here at Brookwood High School, we're about 10 minutes from the Mercedes plant.

Right now we have an apprenticeship program with Mercedes.

We have I think 26 youngsters so far.

They're looking to build that to approximately 65.

But we have 16 and 17 year olds who will leave school in the afternoon, go to Mercedes Benz and work in the manufacturing industry.

- Mercedes, they gave me the job opportunity and I went in for an interview and I was really happy when they told me that I was hired because now I was able to like bring in money for myself.

- I think a successful program is leading your students to where they want to be, it's not necessarily always manufacturing, it is give them the confidence to go out in the world and be the person they want to be.

When I first started teaching, I had to go to certification classes, and the first thing that the instructor said is that it's not about the teacher, it's about the child.

And that's what you have to do, they said you have to talk to the students and figure out what they need and that's what we're here for, we're here to find the need in each individual child and help 'em complete themselves so they go out and be who they want to be.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - The healthcare cluster of course is one of the designated clusters for the State of Alabama, and for Shelby County Schools we offer a few healthcare programs.

We offer the surgical tech program, we offer a sports medicine program, and then we offer a generalized RN program.

This particular program is the first surgical tech program in the State of Alabama.

So we were excited to write the curriculum and make this happen for the state.

- In 2019, we had the opportunity to renovate this classroom and create an operating room space that would teach students about the careers that are in demand in our area, so that we could expose them to careers that they may not necessarily have access to, such as surgical technology, surgical nursing, anesthesia careers, to teach them the skills that they would need to have the confidence to go behind the red line in the operating room.

- Before I actually started this program three years ago, I was interested in the medical field, but I wasn't for sure that's the direction I wanted to go in.

And so through this program and career exploration, I've been able to explore different careers and see the medical field for myself.

And actually this year I've actually gotten in the hospital, gotten to take care of patients, and I've also gotten to shadow in the OR.

So without that OR experience, I would've never known that I loved surgery and that I would want to become a surgeon.

- When you have a great instructor in place and when you have great programs in place, they get that true experience.

In this case, they are earning industry credentials, they are doing internships at the local hospital.

They actually interned at two different places.

- The first surgery I saw was actually the Da Vinci Robot at Shelby Baptist.

So when I first walked in it was really intimidating, you don't really know what's going on exactly, but I actually got to shadow several times in the OR.

So I got to see several surgeries.

And there was several like memorable moments, One being that I got to hold a stomach after a gastric sleeve, so that was pretty incredible.

But just that moment of realization like I could be in here all day and I wouldn't get bored.

- We are able to teach students how to connect the core subjects that they're in to the real world.

And so that's why career tech is so great, that we're able to teach hands on skills, that they can apply to real world careers.

And so I would've loved to have had something like this in high school to help me bridge what am I doing with my core subjects that's driving me into my future careers.

So I love the saying, you can't be what you can't see.

And so programs like this help students see what they can be.

- We are very blessed to have everything that we have in this classroom.

We have a surplus of surgical instruments, and Juno, our little robot over there, our little dummy.

Everything that he can do is insane.

I have gotten to play with him for maybe like five minutes and it was the best five minutes of my life.

It's going to benefit me so much for my career.

- When they're in a particular class and that light bulb goes off and they realize it's not work, they realize that you know, oh my goodness, I was made for this.

This does not seem like work to me.

And then it gives 'em that drive to do whatever those next steps are.

So whether that is to do a two year degree or whether that is to do a four year degree or whether that is to go and get some specialized training, I don't think that part matters as much as just the students feeling like they've achieved what they wanted achieve.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - This is the Calhoun County Career Academy.

We're in Jacksonville, Alabama, so we're in the northeast portion of the state.

We run our program based on a simulated workplace environment.

And the way that it works is we have a student enterprise called Academy Spin Cafe, and the students do the costing, they do the budgeting, they plan the menus.

And behind me today, this is the morning class, so they're doing breakfast prep.

So I have stations that are working on french toast, chicken and waffles, they're doing biscuits, and again, this stuff, they plan the menus out every week and it constantly changes based on what their target market wants.

- It does not feel like school.

It feels like another family I go to.

I wake up, come here, it feels like I actually learning something, 'cause at other schools you don't really learn things that you need to know for real living.

But like here I learn how to cook for myself, when I get into the real world, I will know how to cook.

- I know that all the high school kids that come to me are not gonna find themselves in industry.

Like every high school kid is not gonna work in the hospitality field just based on numbers.

So I tell them that we come in, we're gonna learn critical thinking skills, we're gonna learn problem solving, we're gonna learn how to think on our feet because those type of skills are gonna cross over to any industry, and that's gonna give them the management that they need to walk into any job, wherever it might be, and just to be able to come in and own it.

- Being in this class, growing up was amazing.

Like it helped me find who I am and who I want to be.

I think it started when I was five, they have these things, Easy Bake ovens and I asked my mom for one and she got it for me.

She spent all of her money to get that for me and I started off making the little brownies and then eventually I was old enough to get on the stove and I started cooking eggs and breakfast.

Then it started turning into making brownies like the Betty Crocker brownies and making chocolate chip cookies.

And then it eventually turned into making everything from scratch.

And I actually started my business when I was 12 years old, Mama's Little Baker.

And now I'm at the Culinary Institute of America.

I'm on externship right now, so I work at Grant Hotel, I'm creating art with my food and it makes people happy.

- I like how creative it can be, like how creative I can be doing it.

The sky's the limit of what you can and can't cook.

And you can always discover new foods to make.

- I want them to know when they walk in room 19 that it's love, it's a support, it's somewhere that they can be their quirky, unique selves, and still learn the things that they need to learn that are gonna cross over anywhere they end up, that they want to go.

Again, that relationship building and them knowing that, hey mama bear, Chef Hairrell, she loves you, but she's gonna be hard on you, and she has high expectations, and there's gonna be lots of accountability, but when we fail, she's gonna be there to pick us up.

And that's one of the things that I think the reason why they love this program so much, regardless of if they ever wanna be in food service or not, because they know that this is their safe haven, during their high school career.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - My cluster is architecture and construction, and my program is building construction.

Behind me, we have our introductory students.

My introductory class is called Architecture, Construction and Manufacturing.

And so these are first year students, and I'm kind of teaching them the 101 of construction.

So we go over safety, drawings, how to read a tape measure, how to use hand tools, power tools.

- This class kind of helped me find what I wanted to do in life.

It gives us the way to express ourselves honestly.

And like I probably wouldn't have known architecture was for me if I didn't choose building and construction.

- I think the reason why I love the field so much is because every single day's different and I love problem solving and that's what construction is every day.

So some of the projects we do, I personally may have never built on my own.

And so if we come into a situation to where it's not quite working, we just adjust as needed.

And that's the fun part of the course.

- I get to build basically what I want to.

Like if I have ideas, she gives us kind of free reign, but projects like the tool caddies with the rest of the class, it's just fun.

- One of our mottoes for Auburn City Schools CTE is prepare the students, employable graduates, and engaged citizens.

And so we look at that by giving our students the opportunities to prepare, what is it that they'll need to go to the next level?

What is it that we can provide for them so that they can be employable graduates?

And then of course, the engaged citizen part, not only for them to just work and do things locally, but we would like to see them globally.

- I love working with my hands, it's always been a passion, I'm a hands on person, and so when I realized I could work with wood for an entire hour and a half, I was like, yes, sign me up.

Right now, I'm actually making a ring out of wood on a lathe, I'm very excited, and I've also made a sign with my name on it using a router.

- Not everybody's gonna go into the construction industry or be a master carpenter one day after my course.

We're all gonna learn these skills that can be applicable to every part of our life.

And so one day when you have your own family and you own your own home, you'll have the skills to know how to locate a wall stud, to hang a TV and how to like, I don't know, fix a drip under your sink, just those little tasks like that, that you won't necessarily have to hire out every time.

And that kind of empowers students now and later on in life.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - The Wildcat Automotive Program at Enterprise High School is a simulated workplace model.

So our students will come in, clock in, get ready to work, and then they'll come out and go to work in the shop.

Because to learn how to work on cars, you have to work on cars, so that's what we do.

- Here in the Enterprise Automotive Shop, what we generally do is we work on student or teacher vehicles.

Normally we don't do anything too advanced because not everybody knows how to do everything, but we can do common jobs like rotating tires, we do brakes.

- So there's an old saying that says if you give a man a fish, you feed him for the day.

But if you teach man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.

And I feel like in career tech education we are teaching people to fish, we're teaching them how to make a living, we're teaching them how to sustain themselves, but it's more than just income, it's also about teaching them how to be, all the soft skills we hear about all the time when we visit industry that students need.

How to come to school and/or work every day, how to be on time, how to come dressed appropriately for the task.

- It's motivated me a lot to work towards what I want in life, I wanna be a technician.

And thanks to this class I've found my passion for cars.

It's helped me gain a lot of social skills and communication skills and I've learned a lot about different aspects of life, not just cars.

- We have a lot of different opportunities for our students, including dual enrollment programs, so they receive college credit for taking the high school classes.

In addition to that, we have the Ford ACE program here, where students are able to certify in different areas with Ford Motor Company and use those real world credentials outside of school.

They can also become ASE certified, and we just had 15 students certified in 77 different tests.

- I got a job at the Honda dealership through this program.

So Mr. Rice also sets up co-op programs with his best students to work at places and get work experience while in high school.

- I like to think of this class and these students as preparing for a journey and I think we as teachers need to help pack their bags for this journey that they're going on through technical skills and soft skills that they're going to need while also taking out some of the things that they may have packed in their bags themselves, like self doubt, And replacing that with some confidence and some encouraging words.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Our fire science and our law enforcement is one that's really popular here at Impact.

We also have a great partnership with the Montgomery Police, the county police and the fire department that helps recruit our kids, both of our instructors are retirees from the fire department and Montgomery Police.

So they have those connections to really help our kids be successful once they complete the three year program.

- In my program, students learn about different law enforcement careers and we talk in particular, like hands on activity.

Recently we just had a lesson on vehicle traffic stops.

Today they're actually gonna be out here actually performing a traffic stop.

We have law enforcement vehicles standing behind us and we have a vehicle set up as a suspect vehicle.

So students learn the different patrol techniques.

- I started off at Impact in the 10th grade.

I was able to have internships with MPDN, fire department as well, through the Impact program.

It was a paid internship for eight weeks.

I spent four weeks at PD and spent four weeks at the fire department.

I had mixed emotions, I thought, okay, hey I wanna be a firefighter.

And I thought, hey, I wanna be a police officer.

And through the internships, it helped me let me ask questions and then know which one I actually wanted to do.

- One of the neat things I have in my classroom, I actually have a use of force simulator so they can learn the different levels of force so they actually can engage a suspect on the simulator using a taser, pepper spray or even a handgun, which is known as deadly or lethal force, so they can learn the different levels of force depending on what the suspect is doing and how they engage the suspect.

- When I graduate, I play on attending college or either going straight into the police academy.

I wanna make a difference by instead of like being a police officer who just like, you know what I'm saying, just arrest people.

I wanna talk to 'em, tell 'em, you know what I'm saying?

It isn't too late to change your life, you can go in, do your time, get out and be somebody like do something positive.

- A career in technical education provides students with an opportunity to get industry backed credentials where they can enter the workforce right outta high school, making good money, having benefits and a retirement, in most of the business and industry fields that they enter.

- The beauty of it is you can go to the fire department at 18, as long as you have a high school degree.

So there's no break in between, they can go straight into it.

- I knew I always wanna go to the fire department myself 'cause when I was younger I used to play with fire trucks.

So that's how I started from by saying I wanna do fire when I get to Impact.

We have everything here, we have turnout gear, ladders, fire hose, hydrant.

It prepares me for the next step by going to the fire department.

- Here you can get your firefighter one and two, and that's what they're doing in a recruit school.

So if you get it here, you'll already be ahead.

- We talk to our kids, like you can be what you want to be by coming here at Impact, but you have to invest in the program and invest in yourself to where we can help you be placed once you graduate here.

- Aren't our students impressive?

Every child, every chance, every day is our goal.

Alabama is dedicated to helping students prepare for life after high school.

We are so grateful to our educators and administrators for being the guiding light and helping our students find their passions.

We hope you have learned something from some of our state's finest.

To learn more about career and technical education in Alabama, head to alabamactso.org.

Thank you so much for joining us.

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