Students work in the Miller Career and Technology Center, the home base of the CTE program, which will be undergoing an $8 million expansion expected to be completed in August 2017.[/caption]

Students in Katy ISD’s Career and Technical Education program are not learning to make birdhouses, according to Program Director Sarah Martin.

Instead, they are building skills and experience for various career tracks, from health care and agricultural sciences to engineering, so they graduate from high school with professional certifications and training needed to enter the workforce, she said.

CTE programs are offered in each junior high and high school in KISD, and also at the program’s home base, the Miller Career and Technical Center at 1734 Katyland Drive.

The direction of occupational education has changed over the last couple of decades, Martin said. Where once there were only a few classes, such as metal fabrication and welding, now students can choose multiple paths from a list of CTE program areas: family and consumer science or human services, engineering technical education, agricultural sciences, business and information technology, marketing, health science, and trades and industry education.

The district’s program offers 96 courses altogether. There will be new programs offered in the expanded upper level of the Miller Center, including dental assisting, manufacturing and cybersecurity. Martin said the $8 million Miller Center expansion is part of the 2014 bond package and will expand the building by 40,000 square feet to meet the needs of the growing program. CTE data shows enrollment has more than doubled since 2010. The expansion is scheduled for completion in August 2017.

Enrollment in KISD’s Career and Technical Education program has doubled since 2010.[/caption]

“Our enrollment is increasing because of the offerings that we’re doing,” Martin said.

She also said legislation a year ago stipulated eighth graders need to choose a diploma plan, or declare an endorsement area, for their career and technical education path for high school.

“I think that’s going to increase our enrollment as well because students are going to be more focused into what area [they] want to go into.”

However, that does not pigeonhole students, Martin said. Rather, students learn hands-on skills that transfer directly to the workforce and real-world situations.

In March, engineering program students participated in the NASA International Space Settlement Design Competition, where they wrote up a 40-page design report to address every aspect of what it would take to design and build a space settlement on Mars.

Students in grades seven-12 can choose from six program areas and 96 courses.[/caption]

John Drow, engineering and architecture CTE instructional specialist, described the process as extremely intense. Students lost sleep for three days researching their projects and figuring out how to make their settlement survivable, he said. The students went on to win second place in the Houston-based competition.

With the Miller Center expansion, students will receive additional real-world skills and training, Martin said.

“CTE is for those who want to be engaged in their education,” she said. “We are where the theory becomes applicable.”