WEM students explore Career and Technical Education Month

Technical careers are in a high demand and are very important for our communities.  These experiences at the Win-E-Mac High school will help students learn valuable skills as well as give them the opportunity to find careers that will allow them to live and work right here in northern Minnesota.

At Win-E-Mac school, CTE is taught in Family & Consumer Science (FACS) which prepares students for family life, work life and careers in FACS by provide opportunities to develop knowledge and skills through learning and practicing with hands-on activities.  

Students apply critical thinking, problem solving and technical reading. Essential hard skills and soft skills are practiced for successful job careers.

FACS courses focus on families, relationships, design (interior and textiles), early childhood education, finances and marketing, hospitality, nutrition & wellness, and college and job preparation.  

All students in the 7th and 9th grade study these areas at the entry level which are everyday practical skills for making decisions as informed consumer. 

Some electives CTE courses are as follows. 

Exploring Early Childhood gives students opportunity to work twice a week with children as they study skills needed to nurture healthy growth and development in a child.  

They develop effective communication skills as they learn about parenting, children with special needs and relationships.  Design (Interior or Textiles) allows students to be creative in designing a house, exterior and interior. In creating a house model the students manage resources, apply math and technical skills.  

Foods for Today prepares students for career paths within the food production or service industries as well as personal skills for their family.  Students develop an understanding of the chemistry of food, nutrition across the life span, the art of cooking, skills in making food decisions. Teamwork skills are put to work in carrying out a school wide project. Life skills in housing, insurances, healthy choices, nutrition and food preparation, personal finances, preparing for job interviews as well as managing resources are taught to all seniors in Senior Seminar in preparation for their transition to living on their own.  

Seniors prepare themselves by completing a service project, researching career, resume writing, job cover letters, scholarship applications and completing mock interview. 

Some WEM students have advanced into Child Care, Teaching, Hospitality and Food Industry, Interior Housing Design, Architecture careers. 

With the construction of the new shop at Win-E-Mac last year, we have expanded our CTE offerings and opportunities for the students. Career and Technical courses that fall under the shop envelope include Building Trades, 

Cabinet making, Small Engines and Welding.  In all of these classes safety, skill development and career awareness are the main objective. 

Building Trades is a two hour block course that allows students the opportunity to learn carpentry skills to build garages and other structures. Students also learn about blue print reading, basic electrical wiring, and concepts of plumbing and concrete work. Students taking this course are giving a test at the end of the year to assess their knowledge. 

If the students pass this test, the student receive advanced standing form the Pine to Prairie cooperative. Cabinet making is a course that allows student the opportunity to work with a variety of tools and material to construction projects out of wood.  

Projects have include gun cabinets, entertainment centers, desks, and chairs.  In this class students also have opportunity to use CNC routers and Laser engravers to add finishing touches to their projects.

Welding allows student to use a variety of processes for metal fabrication.  Students learn to stick weld, oxy-fuel weld, plasma cut, wire fed weld and TIG weld.  Students also have the opportunity to use a CNC plasma cutter to help fabricate and prepare steel pieces for welding.  Student projects include fire pits, plinker stands, trailers, and a variety of projects the students design. 

The small engines course allows student to do a complete teardown and rebuild of an engine.   Students are required to identify all the parts and be able to have their engines running upon completion of the rebuild.  Students look at carburetion and fuel systems, electrical systems and theory, and will try to troubleshoot problems with engines.  Students use a variety of tools complete tasks and gain irreplaceable knowledge and experience.

The Business/Technology Department includes both required and elective CTE courses for students to participate in. These classes not only provide students a solid background if they choose to enter these fields as a career, but also give students a solid foundation for general life skills and understanding if they choose another path.

Accounting: Speak the Language of Business. We have had many students go onto business/accounting degrees after high school. 

High school accounting is an elective that prepares students for degrees in the business field. Even if students do not go into a business field, a general understanding of assets, liabilities, accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll and taxes help people in their general every-day life. 

Economics: Economics is a required subject taken by sophomores at Win-E-Mac. We take a look at how individuals, businesses and government try to maximize their utility in using their limited resources. Economics also explains how supply and demand are the building blocks of our economy and how their role is used in determining prices for producers and consumers. 

We also look into the influence government through various policies and procedures.

Multi Media Arts: Multi Media Arts focuses on creating artistic media using a multitude of different devices and programs. Cameras, camcorders, digital microphones, iPads, smartphones are some of the items used. Some of the latest Adobe programs: Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro and Encore are used to create artistic imagery, websites, videos and dvds. 

Business Math: Business Math is an elective class that I commonly refer to as ‘Real World’ math. In this class we cover topics that will relate to students far after their years in school. 

We go over topics such as: Payroll, Banking, Loans, Purchasing Homes and Vehicles, Insurance, Investments, Inventory along with many other life-related topics. 

Computer 9: Computer 9 is a semester long required class for 9th graders at Win-E-Mac. It picks ups and expands on the basic computer knowledge that was covered by students in 7th grade. 

We emphasize organization through file maintenance along with really focusing on creating, editing, saving and printing Microsoft Office applications.