FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE) – They walked out to the acquainted sounds of the commencement march pomp and circumstance, however there was one thing totally different about these graduating seniors.
They are the first graduating class of the Career Technical Education Charter High School.
“Today is a historical occasion not just in the life of your guys but this institution,” mentioned Jonathan Delano, the director of CTEC.
CTEC opened its doorways to its first freshman class in 2018, a countywide constitution highschool of the Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of colleges.
Students taking part in two pathways, superior manufacturing or industrial building.
“CTE is all about giving kids experiences so that they can dream about what they want to do in the future. You know, there’s no way someone’s gonna know they want to be a mechanical engineer. In fact, our girls in the school who are going to be mechanical engineers had no idea what that was until they came to CTEC,” mentioned Jim Yovino, the superintendent of Fresno County Schools.
Many of those graduating seniors will inform you CTEC is the place they discovered their ardour, their place.
‘I never wanted to be a construction person or welder, like this wasn’t my mentality, what I needed to be. Then once I received right here, it’s like I used to be actually impressed by every little thing that they had right here. It simply modified who I’m as my persona,” mentioned Diego Martinez, a CTEC graduate.
Diego Martinez discovered that he beloved welding, beloved making jewellery, and has established a small enterprise.
“I make rings out of spoons and then coins stuff like that. So I want to grow on that and then get a job that will help support my dream,” mentioned Martinez.
CTEC can be a twin enrollment college, as freshman many of those college students began concurrently taking school programs at Fresno City College
18-year-old Leilah Hunt, who plans to develop into an engineer graduated from CTEC excessive, with graduated from Fresno City College along with her affiliate’s diploma.
“And what it says to the valley, what it says to any kid and what it says to our colleges is that our high school kids are capable of doing college coursework,” mentioned Yovino.
This ceremony represents greater than their commencement from highschool.
For CTEC college students, it’s additionally in regards to the success of twin enrollment, displaying that these younger folks can do school work and succeed.