February is Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month.

Carpentry, heating and air conditioning, masonry and welding classes at the Career and Technical Education Center in Pittsburg, which offers Fort Scott Community College classes have seen a rise in enrollment,  according to Kris Mengarelli, CTEC Executive Director.

“I do not have a current number of high school students for this spring, but (I do) for Fall 2017 – I know enrollment is up for the Spring semester,” he said.

Mengarelli is glad to see the increase.

“There are significant opportunities in the trades workforce,” Mengarelli said.  “Trade businesses are in need of skilled workers to fill the demand of a workforce that is moving toward retirement.  In addition, according to Association for Career and Technical Education, students involved in CTE courses are more engaged, graduate at higher rates and go on to post-secondary education.”

The statistics for the fall semester at CTEC that Mengarelli produced:

In heating and air conditioning, there are 10 male students whose average age is 23. None are high school students. The students are from Bourbon, Crawford, Allen, and Anderson counties.

For masonry, there are 17 students, 15 males, and two females with an average age of 18, from Crawford, Cherokee, Montgomery counties and two out of state students. Eight are high school students from Pittsburg, Girard, and Southeast.

For construction trades, there are 23 students, 20 males, and three females with an average age of 18. They are from Crawford, Labette, Allen, Anderson, and Cowley counties and two out of state students. Nine are high school students from Pittsburg and Girard.

For welding, there are 61 students, 57 males, and four females with an average age of 21. They are from Crawford, Cherokee, Bourbon, Johnson, Anderson, Linn, Miami counties and out of state.

There are 32 high school students in this group, from Pittsburg, Frontenac, Northeast, St. Mary’s Colgan, Southeast, and Girard.

For more information contact:

Kris Mengarelli
CTEC Executive Director
[email protected]
(620) 232-5644

Kim Coates
Carpentry Instructor
[email protected]
(620) 232-5644

Nacoma Oehme
Masonry Instructor
[email protected]
(620) 232-5644

Davis Oehme
Welding Instructor
[email protected]
(620) 232-5644

Chris Sterrett
Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration (HVAC) Instructor
[email protected]
(620) 232-5644

The theme for CTE Month is Celebrate Today, Own Tomorrow! This month provides CTE programs an opportunity to demonstrate how CTE makes students college and career ready and prepares them for high-demand career fields, according to a Kansas Department of Education press release.

CTE in Kansas helps meet the needs of business and industry through the development of the foundational knowledge and skills aligned to the Kansas workforce.

Kansas has 16 Career Clusters for students to choose from, and there are 35 Career Cluster Pathways, according to the press release.

A Career Cluster is a group of occupations similar in skill set and training.

Career Cluster Pathways are focused on specific areas of study leading to a particular area of industry or business. These occupations fall within seven career fields in Kansas — agriculture; business; design, production, and repair; family and consumer sciences; health; media and technology; and public services.

Kansas schools have 2,606 pathways across these fields.