Consortium delivers career and technical education choices to Washtenaw County high school students
Garrett Rochowiak, Dexter, sautes an onion recently in the kitchen of the student-run restaurant The Hive at Saline High School. The culinary arts program is one of several vocational classes that are part of the South and West Washtenaw Consortium.
Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com
Garrett Rochowiak is a senior at Dexter High School, but he spends part of each school day at Saline High School learning things like how to dice an onion and how to cook a hamburger on the grill. He also learns business basics essential for anyone planning a career in the restaurant or food service industry.
"We've learned about starches and proteins, and the temperatures they have to be cooked at," Rochowiak said.
Rochowiak, who also works at Metzger's German Restaurant in Scio Township and hopes to open his own restaurant one day, is a second-year student in culinary arts in the Career and Technical Education Program of the South and West Washtenaw Consortium, located at Saline High School.
Rochowiak and 538 other students taking classes through the consortium report to their home high schools in the morning and then take a bus to Saline High School, where they attend the career or technical education program of choice for up to 110 minutes, and then return to their home schools.
School districts that participate in the program, including Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Milan and Saline, have been renewing their agreements over the past few weeks with the consortium, which has existed for 30 years.
Classes offered at the consortium, open primarily to students in 11th and 12th grade, are designed to equip students with entry level skills for employment as well as to prepare them for further education. Some courses offer certifications and some offer advanced placement college credit.
Chelsea High School Junior Mark Gilbert takes four required classes in Chelsea and attends automotive technology courses at the consortium in Saline.
"I like doing hands-on things instead of sitting in a class room," said Gilbert. "I'm learning about engines and fuel components and vehicle safety here, and I still have time to take courses like physics and English."
Automotive Technology Instructor Tim Timoszyk said that the technical courses are more appealing to some students than traditional high school courses.
"We get students who want to be automotive technicians, some who want to go into automotive related careers like engineering and marketing, and some who just want to work on their own cars," said Timoszyk. "Between 80-90 percent of my students go on to future education after high school."
Rather than a greasy autoshop, the Automotive Technology garage is a huge, clean room complete with new looking vehicles donated because they were test vehicles or damaged in transit.
Instructors like Timoszyk keep a reality check on jobs in the marketplace with the help of advisory teams.
"All of our programs have a group of advisers made up of people in related business and industry who stay in touch with the job market and decide what should be taught," said Jody Gielinski, principal of the consortium.
In the Culinary Arts & Hospitality Program, chef and instructor Sam Musto not only teaches students the basics of cooking and baking techniques, he also employs them.
"We do catering jobs for school banquets and parties as well as events like the Winter Festival in Saline," said Musto. "We've catered events for as many as 500 people, and students earn $10 an hour."
Part of the program is letting students figure out how much and event costs and how much money it makes.
Other programs offered through the consortium include building and construction trades technology, early childhood education, cosmetology, electronics and computer servicing, health sciences, and visual imaging technology.
Presentations about the Career and Technical Education program are generally made to 10th graders in November, Gielinski said.
The Career and Educational Technical Program is capped at 539 students for the current school year.
"We usually fill all of our open slots and have waiting lists," she said, adding that students are held to high standards and that attendance is extremely important.
Comments
RuralMom
Tue, Feb 8, 2011 : 3:21 p.m.
My Daughter graduated from Chelsea High School in June 2010, she did the Healthcare Consortium, taking courses to get her Certified Nursing Assistant Certification. Overall goal is to be a nurse. When she took the State of Michigan Exam at Washtenaw in July, she got pyched out by many who came there from WORKING in actual nursing homes without certifications FAILING the exam. Nervously she went from one portion of the exam to the next, SHE PASSED THE EXAM THE FIRST TIME! I knew right then and there that we had a special program and I had confirmation of my Mother's Bias, I have an Awesome Kid! THANK YOU Consortium for giving my Daughter a leg up on a profession she is passionate about, letting her really see/work in the field while making her career decisions. She's not done yet with her schooling, but she is very rewarded by her current patients and employer.
DDOT1962
Sun, Feb 6, 2011 : 2:29 p.m.
"Would you like fries with that, at no upcharge to you, sir?" "How about an icy cold Coca-Cola?"
Edward R Murrow's Ghost
Sat, Feb 5, 2011 : 5:51 p.m.
DonBee and I have crossed swords on many issues in these pages, but not here. He is 100% correct. Indeed, the phenomenon he notes is the reason American students appear to score poorly on standardized tests when compared to students in other nations. In those countries, the only people taking those tests are students who are headed to colleges and universities. Here, our ultra-democratic educational philosophy--one that assumes that everyone MUST go and WILL go to college--requires that all students be tested. The result is that American results compare poorly to those in other nations. Not all students are emotionally or educationally prepared for college when they leave high school. Some never will be. And there are many many jobs (many of which pay quite well) that do not require an ACADEMIC education beyond high school, though they do require an education that develop a specific skill set. Want real education reform? Then force our state to re-think the fetish we have regarding preparing all students for colleges and universities. Force it to begin to prepare high school students for job skills that will be necessary for the 21st century. Good Night and Good Luck
DonBee
Sat, Feb 5, 2011 : 5:22 p.m.
This is a wonderful program. Not everyone is going to college. Offering classes that give them job skills immediately is a wonderful thing to do. In Germany, the schools have large programs that train people for the jobs that are available before they leave high school, no having to go to the community college to get basic job skills. Too many of our high schools have dropped the classes that teach real job skills. I am pleased to see this program continue.
dogpaddle
Sat, Feb 5, 2011 : 4:55 p.m.
Meerkin, I agree with you 100%. Everyone should learn to cook - if you can't, I would be concerned that it means someone can't follow simple instructions, IMHO. Don't forget to add the superstar of all chefs to the list, my hero, Julia Child! As a male, luckily, my mother thought we should all know how to cook, and I watched my father helpless in the kitchen at those few times when my mother wasn't around. Sad. I am so glad there are programs for students like this now. Changing attitudes in our society takes time. Long slow progress. Nearly 40 years ago when I was in high school (ouch - really, was it that long ago?), it wasn't until my senior year that they "allowed" girls to take shop and boys to take "homemaking" (a semester of cooking and a semester of sewing - unfortunately, I didn't get the semester of sewing). So hopefully within another generation, all PEOPLE will be chefs. Anyway, congrats to students like Garrett and to the consortium for providing these excellent opportunities!
NC Resident
Sat, Feb 5, 2011 : 4:16 p.m.
Thank you to MS. Carolin and ann arbor.com for an informative and insightful article into the opportunities and successes in Career and Technical Education.
NC Resident
Sat, Feb 5, 2011 : 4:12 p.m.
Interesting reading. I live in NC, and we have CTE courses in All of our schools - many opportunities for students to take multiple CTE courses within a year or semester, no cap limits. Where Michigan looks like they have nicer and larger facilities, NC has smaller (and older!) facilities but more programs. Like the article mentioned, we too in NC show higher graduation and further education rates for students taking and completing CTE programs than for those students who do not. Looks like public education in America DOES indeed have some answers relative to student success and graduation rates. Now if only the higher levels of education and politics would notice.....
Matt Whale
Sat, Feb 5, 2011 : 3:42 p.m.
Everybody should learn how to cook. Why are most of the chefs male on TV male? The original Iron Chef in Japan, all the chefs were male. Iron Chef America all but one of the chefs are male. Chef Robert Irvine. I know there are a few female chefs, Rachael Ray, Martha Stewart, Paula Deen and some others. Ordinary men should be brave. Congratulaions Garrett Rochowiak! No offence here but women cook in the house and cooks that are men are TV stars but females do WAY more work struggling with dishes than males. No fair!