How Greene County Career Center gets kids interested in career tech education

At Greene County Career Center in Xenia, preparation is the name of the game—the school is all about preparing students for a career, college and the “real world.” It is a part of career tech education (CTE), a type of high school education that teaches students real world trades and skills before college.

Though CTE is growing in popular as the price of college also grows, the participation rate remains low. In 2022, 2.8 million secondary students, or only 16% of all secondary students, enrolled in career-focused courses, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

David Deskins, Greene County Career Center superintendent, wants to raise these numbers.

“We’re really trying to figure out ways to get more students engaged at multiple grade levels,” he says. “We’re working on initiatives that actually go all the way down to kindergarten for kids in Greene County.”

According to Deskins, CTE can give students certifications and credentials even before they leave high school, leading to an array of opportunities. Deskins says traditional K-12 schools are used to preparing students for college, even when that might not be the best path for everyone.

That’s not to say that students from Greene County do not attend college (around 60% do attend college or other post-secondary education after graduation), but the center is offering more options.

“A career tech ed option…gives kids the ability to have some direction when they leave high school,” Deskins says.

Greene County Career Center starts exposure on career tech education as early as kindergarten in the county, and it has initiatives that it runs at every grade level. In 2023, every K-5 student in Greene County received a resource, lesson or activity book from the career center highlighting multiple trades and career options.

Greene County also works with middle school students and offered STEM camps this past summer so students could get exposure to different kinds of career interests. Additionally, the center brings students on campus in their eighth- and 10th-grade years to explore and see if Greene County Career Center is right for them. One of the biggest selling points the center focuses on is the cost of college; all students can receive a $3,000 tech prep scholarship to either Clark State or Sinclair Community College after graduation.

About 975 students are enrolled and attending Greene County this year, though the campus was built with 950 in mind.

Deskins says that Greene County had to turn away 100 kids this year but has plans to expand in the future.

“One of the smartest expansions that we’re seeing are the school districts are asking us to come onto their campuses and open more career tech options,” Deskins shares.

At all seven school districts in Greene County (Beavercreek, Bellbrook-Sugarcreek, Cedar Cliff, Fairborn, Greeneview, Xenia and Yellow Springs), Greene County operates satellite programs where teachers from the center teach CTE classes in one period a day to participating students. On the Greene County campus, students spend half their day in lab and half on their academics.

Though Deskins is passionate about CTE, he did not attend a CTE high school and attended college. But, he says, the students at Greene County are “more engaged” than at K-12 private schools. “They like more of their school experience because they get to be hands on and their learning is for real life problems,” he says.

Last year, Greene County’s engineering program partnered with the University of Dayton and Dayton’s Children’s on an electric vehicle project. Dayton Children’s identified students with disabilities from the waist down who could not drive. Greene County’s engineering students reconfigured the vehicles so that the kids could use push buttons and other mechanisms to drive. Dayton Children’s then donated those customized vehicles back to the individual families.

“Our kids are working on real experiences that impact their community,” Deskins says. “And that’s the fun of career tech ed.”

At Greene County, there are many of the traditional career tech pathways available, like automotive technology, electrical wiring and motor controls, and construction technology. The center also has programs for cybersecurity, digital design and development, cosmetology, video and animation, marketing, culinary arts, and criminal justice.

“Students are able to have a head start when they go into the college pathway, or they have certifications that allow them to go directly in the industry,” Deskins says.

Deskins says that almost every week former students come back to sing the praises of Greene County Career Center.

In 2020, the center opened a new school facility that cost close to $80 million. The company that bid on the electrical wiring project was a company out of Dayton called Chapel Electric. The company’s CEO is a former student and graduate of Greene County Career Center.

“He took a bid on the project, immediately hired 22 of our electrical wiring students and has continued to contribute and pour into the program here to help more kids go into that industry because he loves it so much,” Deskins says.

Deskins says this type of thing happens frequently, a testament to the work Greene County and Deskins have put into the programs, classes and students.

According to Deskins, those at CTE have higher completion rates of four-year universities than traditional K-12 schools. He also adds that students in career centers learn how to problem solve, complete projects and have readiness skills for employability.

“The students who choose the career tech option, those students are really trying to have a defined pathway for their future,” he adds.