Superintendent

Superintendent

Friday, May 14, 2010

May 14, 2010

It finally looks like a weekend free of rain and hopefully, one that is packed with sunshine. Our students and the majority of our staff will soon have the opportunity to enjoy all the good things that come with summer, including the outdoor weather. (and don't forget the ice cream--my personal favorite is the turtle sundae at the Creamery in Delphos!)

The highlight of this past week was attending the annual Senior Health Careers Cooperative Education Employer Appreciation banquet. Our students plan the entire event, along with guidance from the instructors, Reesa Rohrs and Shirley Jarvis. It was gratifying to see the significant number of employers in the room, along with students and their parents. Our seniors were recognized for working a minimum of 450 hours in the health care field during their training experience at Vantage. Many received other accolades in perfect attendance, Ohio SkillsUSA accomplishments, and National Technical Honor Society recognition.

This year's program was the last cooperative education employer banquet, due to changes within the Health Careers training pathway at the state level. Vantage believes in the importance of employer interaction with students in all training programs, and will maintain student familiarity with employers through internship and mentoring experiences; however, the format for instructional delivery in Health Careers will look different beginning in August, 2010. Thank you, instructors, for supporting the change of direction initiated by the Ohio Department of Education, and for helping us design a meaningful program for our health care students.

One cannot observe an event like this annual banquet, so strongly attended by employers, without being reminded that this is what works so beautifully in career-technical education--hands-on training, rigorous and demanding curriculum, combined with great self-discipline and diligence exhibited by young high school students, which prepares each to enter the workforce with industry credentials, and advance their education in a postsecondary degree should they choose to do so. It makes each of us, who works in the career-technical education field, renew our belief in what we do daily. Congratulations and good luck to this year's senior class in Health Careers !