Career and Technology Center undergoes expansion
December 20, 2022
The CTE Center is undergoing an expansion seven years in the making. In the past couple of years, the design plan was finalized.
Frisco ISD has pursued a variety of projects to further benefit students. The latest example is the CTE center.
The expansion not only provides more space for the growing number of students, but it also provides more course offerings. Additionally, students will gain the opportunity to receive workforce certifications.
The CTE Center is already a host to a number of pathways, which will only grow through the expansion. One of the avenues the CTE expansion considers pursuing is an increase in the number of trade courses.
“We always talk of how we can incorporate [trade courses] more,” Volk said. “I came from a trading background. I used to teach trades all the time. So we’re always looking at how we can expand that and possibly continue more offerings for the students.”
“We have about 30 different professional certifications that are offered through the center, so a student that has an interest in one of those certification areas can get a professional certification before they graduate,” Frisco ISD Superintendent Dr. Mike Waldrip said. “If they don’t want to go to college, they’re ready to go into the workforce, in particular, whatever area they were trained in. There are all kinds of areas, everything from culinary arts to computer programming to networking to Microsoft certifications, nursing, all kinds of things.”
From Frisco ISD’s newest natatorium to the Ford Center at the Star, the district continues to invest in projects designed to benefit its students. The latest example is the CTE center, which is undergoing an expansion seven years in the making.
“Every year we open a new high school, it seems like, so it just continues to grow, we continue to get bigger. Eventually, [in the CTE] center we actually started seeing a need for more classroom space,” CTE Assistant Principal Travis Volk said. “We started six, seven years ago to talk about it, before COVID kind of slowed everything down. These last two years, we finally got the design plan down, and we finally got everything into place. And it’s been an exciting year now since we finally broke ground.”
Along with accommodating the growing population of FISD students, the expansion will increase the number of course offerings available to students as well as the opportunities for students to receive workforce certifications.
“We have about 30 different professional certifications that are offered through the center, so a student that has an interest in one of those certification areas can get a professional certification before they graduate,” Frisco ISD Superintendent Dr. Mike Waldrip said. “If they don’t want to go to college, they’re ready to go into the workforce, in particular, whatever area they were trained in. There are all kinds of areas, everything from culinary arts to computer programming to networking to Microsoft certifications, nursing, all kinds of things.”
Junior Vibha Immedisetty believes having a larger space to operate in will allow for a more engaging experience in her mock trial class.
“Right now, especially in the government pathway, although we have a courtroom, we learn most of our actual content through plain lectures just because we don’t have the resources to learn in a more interactive environment,” she said. “An expansion of my program at the CTE not only expands knowledge to high schoolers about pathways they can take under a government focus, but also makes learning the content a little less difficult and more interactive and engaging for everyone.”
As the process of establishing new classes continues, opening up trade-related courses also remains a possible option.
“We always talk of how we can incorporate [trade courses] more,” Volk said. “I came from a trading background. I used to teach trades all the time. So we’re always looking at how we can expand that and possibly continue more offerings for the students.”
