With an increase in applications during the past several years, Central Westmoreland Career and Technology Center (CWCTC) came up with a novel way to expand programming without expanding its own campus.
Instead, it’s launching satellites on campuses of its sending districts. It’s also collaborating with the Westmoreland County Forum for Workforce Development, the Economic Growth Connection, and the county’s two other CTCs to expand programming with the help of post-secondary partners that would host “career academies.”
Both of the initiatives are aimed at “making sure students are better prepared to make decisions about careers before they leave high school,” said Central Westmoreland Career & Technology Center’s Administrative Director Jason Lucia.
Both also hold potential for replication in other counties, or even statewide.
While smatterings of electives at their home schools might give students opportunities to explore their interests, they often don’t map out an integrated approach. Nor do they afford internships or industry certifications that CTCs can provide.
More students seem to be seeking the combination. “We’ve really spiked in enrollment,” said Lucia. “There’s just a lot of interest in career and tech ed, especially over the last two years.”
It may sound like the perfect problem, except that, “we’re basically out of space,” Lucia explained. There also are other issues, such as scheduling conflicts, that preclude some students who want CTC training from spending the 2.5 hours a day off their school campuses needed to complete a CTC program.
Rather than building, CWCTC has collaborated with its sending districts to create new programming off-site. Together, they’re working to assess student interest in different career pathways and audit curricula to determine what programs might dovetail with existing coursework.
CWCTC launched its first satellite—an Aspiring Educators Program, focused on preparing for teaching careers—during the 2023-24 school year. This year, it added an Entrepreneurship satellite, and in 2026-27, it plans another focused on Innovative Technologies.
Students from any of CWCTC’s sending schools can enroll in satellite programs outside their own districts. For example, Lucia said the Aspiring Educators Program at Hempfield Area School District’s Stanwood Elementary School, draws students from 7 of the 10 eligible districts, building on a program originating at Mt. Pleasant Area High School.
Mt. Pleasant Area School District will instead be home to Entrepreneurship which will bring together their existing menu of business electives and leverage the many small businesses in the surrounding community.
Similarly, the Innovative Technologies program envisioned in Southmoreland School District is expected to fit well with the district’s computer science electives, enabling students to focus on careers involving artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, drone technology, robotics, and automated manufacturing.
In addition to connecting students with internship opportunities and enabling them to earn certifications, the satellites can also bring value to the hosting school districts themselves because it makes equipment funding from the CTCs available, Lucia said.
The idea for launching satellites came after the Pennsylvania Department of Education made a new CIP (Classification of Instructional Programs) in teaching prep available to CTEs. Getting approval for satellites based on it, and other existing CIPs, was a fairly easy process, Lucia said.
In addition to satellites, Career Academies hosted on post-secondary campuses may soon open even more avenues for career learning. These opportunities could incorporate dual enrollment and work-based learning experiences related to careers in pathways such as medicine.
As with the satellites, the idea is to help students bring cohesion to coursework and credentials to their resumes.
According to Lucia, the models are designed to “bring purpose and value” to what might otherwise be a transcript of electives.
