SILOAM SPRINGS — Gov. Asa Hutchinson toured Siloam Springs High School on Monday afternoon to learn more about the school's conversion charter and its impact on career and technical programs.
Hutchinson said he is investing a lot of energy into researching career and technical education, and decided to visit Siloam Springs because he has heard about the school's innovative approach to serving students and industry partners.
"This makes the difference in the lives of our kids, I know it helps our industry," he said. "I am also here because I want to learn what we can do statewide, we've got to learn from each other. There are a lot of good programs elsewhere. What is unique here is the investment of industry in the quality of the equipment and how its up to date and modern, and its exactly what you would find in industry."
Siloam Springs High School became a conversion charter school in 2014. The charter allows students to take more of their core classes during their freshman and sophomore years so they can focus on career technology education (CTE) classes during their junior and senior years. CTE programs include agriculture, business, family consumer science, health science, audio/visual and engineering.
In 2015, the school partnered with local industries to open the Career Academy of Siloam Springs, which focuses on teaching industrial maintenance. The leadership and vision of the industry partners sets Siloam Springs' program apart, according to Principal Jason Jones.
"I believe it is the first industrial maintenance program in the state at the high school level and maybe the nation," he said. "We're very proud of it. I can tell you these kids have become a pipeline between high school and industry of talent, of skilled trade workers to industry."
During his visit, Hutchinson met with school officials and industry partners, watched a video about the CTE program, heard a presentation from two bilingual customer service students before touring the audio visual department and the Career Academy of Siloam Springs.
School board members and industry partners accompanied the Governor on the tour. After the tour, Hutchinson said he could tell students were excited about learning in the CTE environment.
"This CTE program allows students to visualize a career path where they can provide for their family, make a good living and do what they like," he said.
Hutchinson, who expressed admiration for the local innovation in Siloam Springs, said he would like to see more CTE centers across the state. Arkansas schools have had CTE programs for many years, but Siloam Springs has made their CTE program "first tier," he said.
"I think this illustrates nothing beats local innovation where the school districts see what works for their students and partners and their industry," he said. "There shouldn't necessarily be a statewide cookie cutter pattern, but we can learn from each other and the key is we're developing these kinds of career centers all across Arkansas in different ways."
General News on 03/07/2018