An open house at the center simultaneously showcased the program to prospective students from Alpena and the surrounding counties and gave a glimpse into employers’ desperate need for qualified workers.

The district’s career and tech ed program will help fill that need, said Lee Fitzpatrick, APS director of communications.

“When you know these things,” he said of the skills taught in the CTE program, “you walk directly into an industry and you’re employable.”

Stationed in their learning areas, CTE students on Tuesday waited eagerly to talk about their hands-on learning process.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Freshman Elsa Schultz on Tuesday displays an animation she created in the business tech lab at the Career and Technical Education center at Alpena High School.

Veering away from the traditional students-in-desks system, CTE classes give students hands-on experience with skills they’ll use as they step into careers after high school or college.

In a business tech computer lab, freshman Elsa Schultz displayed a frame-by-frame animation she created using top-of-the-line computer software.

“I gotta call Disney for her,” said instructor Amanda Pilarski, enthusing about the future animator’s talent and the computer lab’s ability to prepare students for high-end jobs, including knowledge of computer systems not used in most standard classrooms.

Across the hall, in a room equipped with mannequins in hospital cots, future nurses and doctors talked about medical training that will qualify them to go straight into the workforce upon graduation.

Senior Madysen Gohl hopes to stepstool from her CTE training to medical school and someday use her Alpena-taught skills as a pediatrician.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Sophomore Jakob Hirsch, at right, cuts wood on a table saw at the Career and Technical Education center at Alpena High School on Tuesday.

Students in standard classrooms often question the applicability of math and science classes, she said.

“They’re like, ‘Why am I learning this? How am I going to apply it?'” Gohl said. “In these classes, these kids are learning anything and everything that they could apply to what they want to do.”

A group of students just back from a trip to New York City waited eagerly to talk about the company they created, while other students hovered nearby to talk about the school store they run.

Rabbits waggled their noses from cages in another not-classroom classroom, where students learn about animal husbandry, aquatic culture, and greenhousing, gaining skills they might use to equip local farms with new technology.

Behind colored plastic curtains in a welding shop, students in face shields sent sparks flying, as others in a nearby garage talked knowledgeably about the cars they know how to repair.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A student cuts wood at the Career and Technical Education center at Alpena High School on Tuesday.

Grant money has helped the school provide CTE students with high-quality equipment, like specialty tools in a woodworking lab and a robotic arm and 3-D printer in a mechatronics lab, Fitzpatrick said.

Most of that money comes with a caveat that the school use it to funnel students toward careers the state knows to be most in need of trained workers, he said.

Subjects that befuddle students in a standard classroom become clear when hands-on work lets them apply those concepts to real life, like the geometry used in building a roof, he said.

Sophomore Jakob Hirsch, leaning confidently over a table saw, said the CTE program helps students past the fear they may encounter in a traditional classroom.

The skills he’s learned in the woodshop – and the method the school used to give him those skills – will help him in a future career as a carpenter or firefighter, he said.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Students talk in the welding shop at the Career and Technical Education center at Alpena High School on Tuesday.

“Hands on, yes,” Hirsch said. “That’s the best way to learn.”

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A student practices welding at the Career and Technical Education center at Alpena High School on Tuesday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Junior Savannah Miller, a student in the Career and Technical Education program at Alpena High School, holds Mr. Pineapple at an open house at the CTE center on Tuesday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena High School senior Madysen Gohl, right, practices feeding a patient with the help of senior Madison Erickson at the school’s Career and Technical Education center on Tuesday.