Sulphur Springs students learn how to dream with new CTE lab

“The biggest goal is just engagement with fun learning,” said the school’s principal, Dr. David Little.

In the CTE lab, students in grades five through eight are able to engage in hands-on and immersive learning that is centered on exposing them to industry career opportunities. Students go through rotations throughout the year that give them opportunities to experiment with VEX Robotics, electrical systems, food truck design, hydroponics and more.

Additionally, thanks to the generous donation of Oculus VR headsets, the students are able to experience what it is like working in different career fields and visiting different places in the world. They can see what it’s like to be an astronaut, an engineer, a welder, a mechanic and more. They can also experience Paris, Greece, New York and other places through the Wander App on the Oculus.

The students have time built into their daily class schedules which allows them to work in two week rotations, exploring the various subjects mentioned above. In these two weeks, students engage in design planning, technical reading and writing and design testing on all of their projects.

These “extended learning opportunities” are available to students before and after school in addition to their regularly scheduled rotations, so that they can be engaged in learning any time they are on Sulphur Springs’ campus.

“This is a space that is open to every child in the building, and there are no restrictions on the kids that are going to be in there working,” said Little. “The more opportunities that we have for kids to be engaged at school, the better off we are.”

The idea behind creating this CTE lab is that students will be able to benefit from early exposure to career opportunities. The hope is that this early exposure will make later career and education decisions easier on the students.

“Ultimately, at the high school level, every student has to have an elective focus,” explained Little. “Oftentimes, our kids transition from middle school to high school and they’ve not had a whole lot of exposure to the programs of study or an elective focus.”

“We want to introduce the kids to those programs of study so that it's a more seamless transition as they’re going from middle school to high school,” he continued. “And then ultimately… they can experience more opportunities for industry certifications and they can do more job embedded learning through internships.”

Most Sulphur Springs students go on to attend Daniel Boone High School, where there are fourteen programs of study for them to choose from. These programs include electrical engineering, health science, hospitality and tourism, cosmetology, agriculture, teaching as a profession and more.

“They don't have to make a decision as far as you ‘choose this now and it’s going to be that way forever,’” said Washington County Schools superintendent Jerry Boyd. “We want them to make a decision so they’re going in a direction that could put them into either some kind of program after high school, or directly into the workforce in an area that they have a great interest in and have developed skills for.”

According to Boyd, the schools’ goal is to eventually have students focus on a different theme or group of careers each year from fifth grade to eighth grade, so that “by the time they get through middle school, they’ve sampled all these programs of study directly” and they can make a decision going into high school on what focus they want to have.

The students have already shown a great deal of enthusiasm when it comes to working in the CTE lab.

“The cooperative learning is amazing, the engagement piece is amazing, and you know, they can’t wait to get in there and get to work,” said Little. “Those are the things that we love to see in the school.”

“It’s a great model that we want to make sure that we see at every one of our schools,” said Boyd. “You know, a partnership between our nonprofits in the region…our higher education institutions… strong community partners who step up and help support the process, and the hard work of our teachers and our principals in our schools, and showing that it can all work together.”

Little expressed his gratitude to Niswonger, ETSU and the Tucker family who have all come alongside the school as they worked to make these opportunities available to students. As Sulphur Springs works to expand their CTE program, they hope to find more champions in the community who will walk alongside them and help to sustain the program.

In summing up the importance of the CTE program at Sulphur Springs, Little said, “We’re teaching them how to dream.”