STONE COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) – The giant scissors and ribbon mark the beginning of big steps in learning at the new Stone County Career and Technical Education Center.
When the school day began on August 5, students were able to take a look inside for the first time.
This was the first opportunity for the public to take a guided tour.
Boyd West, superintendent of the Stone County School District, says, “When the kids are excited when they walk through the door, that sets the stage. Our teachers are excited to be able to work in brand new facilities. Some of these programs were actually developed off campus before this facility was built.”
The CTE Center offers courses in culinary arts, teacher training, health sciences, welding and diversified agriculture.
More opportunities for students are in the pipeline, with new programs starting by the end of October.
Dr. Barbara Fowler, career and technology director for the Stone County School District, says, “We are currently building four classrooms. The family and consumer science class, which includes nutrition and wellness, a health class and family dynamics. We also have work-based learning and our computer science courses.”
According to State Senator Mike Seymour, this investment will pay off by giving students who may not go to college a chance to learn a trade.
Seymour says, “To give them an edge in finding jobs, we offered them vocational training, whether it was in nursing or, especially in our area, at Ingalls for welding. That gave them a head start.”
One student was especially excited to be part of the first graduating class of Stone County CTE.
Riley Lewis, a senior at Stone County CTE and FFA president, says, “We only had a small, carpeted classroom and couldn’t do much lab work. Now that we have this, it’s much better and I can proudly say for the rest of my life that I was the first class to graduate from Stone High CTE Center.”
Stone County is not satisfied with this CTE center. Stone County High School is also in the planning stages and the district recently applied for a grant to fund a new performing arts center.
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