Swansea, SC - Lexington County School District Four took an opportunity this week to let citizens know what all is happening inside their classes that teach specific careers and trades. Each year, students enrolled in SHS's Career and Technical Studies receive diverse learning opportunities in their CTE courses.
Now that school is returning to more face-to-face learning, students in Welding Instructor Jamie Poole’s courses are getting back to work. They are currently going through Forklift Operator Training. In this class, students like Lauren Knight. Jonathan Scott, Juan Jose Perales and others have opportunities to learn how to safely operate the forklift. In order to have the necessary props for this course, Swansea’s Class of 2020 welding students designed and fabricated a multi-level training rack specifically for lifting loads to and from the various shelves with the forklift. With these props, students receive their forklift certification if they so desire.
In another space, students in Desiree Still’s Agriculture Education classes have been doing necessary maintenance in their specific class areas. There is much to be done since students have not had access to the building since last spring due to COVID-19. Some have been cleaning and prepping aquaculture tanks to receive fish that will soon thrive there. Meanwhile, Abigail Lucas spent time removing dead plants, recycling pots, and evaluating hanging baskets from growing areas that other students will soon use.
Meanwhile, Caleb McLemore and Andrew Studebaker have been pressure washing the greenhouse to get it ready to use for a new school year. These students get “hands on” work experience by learning how to maintain and do preventative maintenance on such things as the greenhouse. They also have the opportunity to see alternate methods of producing food.
Teachers say that students are very excited about getting the new fish that will soon stock their tanks. They are preparing to start their first crop of the year. Others are making plans for projects that they can completely by the end of the 2021 school year.
All this may not be what some think of when they consider high school courses for students studying to go on to a four-year college however, for students that plan to enter the workforce in the near future, this is what career education looks like today. These students want the community to know that they are working and learning every day so that after high school, they will have marketable skills that fill man of the needs in the modern economy. After school is through, they will be ready and able to enter the workforce.
