For many years Calvert County Public Schools have offered students the Career and Technology Academy, better known as CTA. CTA is a program where students can take courses to get certifications and build their skillset for future careers. The CTA center is located at Calvert High School but is open to all the other high schools in Calvert County and is offered to juniors and seniors. Several programs are offered within CTA such as medical related professions, cybersecurity, cosmetology and several other trade fields. In this series, we will be covering every program offered in the Career and Technology Academy, what it entails, and student feedback about the programs.
Careers in Cosmetology– The cosmetology program covers all the different topics you would learn in typical beauty school, hair, nails, and makeup arts. Students learn about the arts and science needed to participate in this career, along with how to successfully run and be a part of this business. The program is roughly 1500 hours of classroom instruction, hands-on work, and projects. “It’s a lot of hand-on work you get to do, but you also have a lot of studying to keep up with” said Rhiannon Nichols, 11th grader in CTA. Students will get the opportunity to shadow and watch true professionals who have pursued cosmetology themselves. Students also must take the Maryland State Board of Cosmetologists’ Examination. This test covers safety, cleaning, science and history of salons. “I get to learn something new everyday, and I think we have more fun than everybody else” according to Rhiannon. This is a great program to do if you want to be a hairdresser, makeup artist, or nail technician.
Academy of Health Professions- The academy of health professions is split into two fields, certified clinical medical assistants and physical rehabilitation. In both fields, students get both classroom time and hands-on experience in the lab. “You’re in the lab almost all the time and you’re practicing normal hospital procedure” according to Lily Buchholz, a junior in her first year of CTA. The medical assistant program prepares you for entering any sort of medical field. The first year of this program focuses on more on anatomy, while the second year teaches you patient care. Recently, the students in this program took a trip to the Calvert Health Medical Center in Prince Fredrick to observe an open-heart surgery, Lily says, “It has great opportunities, I’ve been able to go to the hospital and it’s just worth it.” Both aspects of this program are very similar and students in both parts of the program agree that as long as you pay attention, and stay on top of your classwork, the course will be a breeze. If you want to be a surgeon, pediatrician, dermatologist or any other medical professional, this could be the program for you.
Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE)- In this program, you can learn about all the different opportunities involved with agriculture such as, production, processing, finance, health, and nutrition. You learn lots about science, about animals, plants and technology. The program focuses a lot on animal physiology, behaviors, food, and reproduction. “It’s a lot of work, we have several projects we’re working up to all the time” said 11th grader Penelope Pugner, “It’s a great community, we’re all just one big family.” If you want to be a veterinarian, farm manager, marine biologist, or animal specialist, then CASE may be for you.
Culinary Arts- Culinary arts is a basic introduction to professional cooking and is certified by ACF (American Culinary Federation). From learning to bake in a timely manner, to learning the proper sanitation and safety procedures in the kitchen, this is a very hands on program. This program has a lot of group work and involves a lot of communication with your peers. “My favorite thing about the program is eating the food we got to make afterwards” said Savannah Bly, 11th grader in her first year of culinary CTA. After you participate in this program you can become a restaurant manager, a chef, culinary science & product developer along with many more opportunities.
Welding- This program teaches students all the different aspects of welding and teaches the basic of the level one entry exam. You learn the safeties and health procedures of welding. It also teaches you the tests and examinations. Its all hand-on work with lots of opportunities “We’re in the shop everyday, we’re never in the classroom,” said 11th grader Dylan Allafi, “It’s probably easier than every other class.” This program can help you become a welder, construction manager, any type of engineer and many more.
Carpentry/Home Improvement- Carpentry teaches you to do several things such as lay out, fabricate, erect, install, and repair wood using both your hands and power tools. You also learn the operating systems for different tools and read blueprints. You also learn reading plans and elevations, wall and ceiling and roof framing, stair layouts, temperature and moisture protection and much more. The home improvement section is similar but teaches you repairing heating, plumbing, electrical, and other systems. This tends to be a much smaller class compared to the other programs but also has a lot of hands on work, according to 11th grader, Mateo Moore “Theres about 40 students in the whole entire program.” If you want to be a carpenter, inspector, land surveyor, or any sort of project manager this may be the program for you.
Electrical- The electrical program at CTA teaches you how to work with electrical applications in a safe and professional manner. Students are often in the lab but the program definitely takes its time to go over safeties in the classroom, “To start we didn’t do a lot of hands on, but now we’re in the lab a lot more” said Ashton Dobson, 11th grader. Electrical teaches you the mathematics behind everything, electrical theory, conductors and cables and much more. If you want to be a construction worker, facility manager, electrician, or electrical engineer then join the electrical program in CTA.