Lansing School District plans to open a Career Technical Education high-school

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Right now students in the Lansing School District’s Career Technical Education (CTE) program get a half-day of specialized classes to prepare them to start working after graduation.

Starting next year, they’ll have their own full-time high school.

“What’s special about this is that it will be with ninth grade, so we are starting earlier. With most career and technical career programs that you see it’s typically for 11th and 12th grade only. So we are going back to more grade levels and catching them earlier,” said Career Technical Education Director, Nicole Millsap.

The CTE program currently has 178 juniors and seniors enrolled. There are six different specialized programs offered. In 2023, the full-time high school will start out with 75 freshmen with 3 program options to choose from. In 4 years, they plan to have about 400 students enrolled.

“One of the things that we are learning through C-T-E is that the students are really receptive to the hands on learning we provide. They love the mentorships- the work-based learning opportunities. Something that more and more students are being drawn to. It’s helping them to figure out their why and what they want to do after high-school” said Millsap.

Current CTE students said that because of these classes, they feel more confident and prepared to enter the work-force after high school.

“If I would have just straight went into medical school after high school, I probably would not have liked it, but this program taught me like, OK, we can work our way there,” said CTE student Samantha Derosia. “You know, let’s try this. I might not like it at first but I will get there. And I keep falling more and more in love with the program every day.”

The school district hopes expanding the program will help students be able to jump right into the workforce or the program of their choice successfully after graduation.

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