What's happened
Porter County Career Center has had an eventful week after spring break. The Health Science 2 students took their written test, which moved them one step closer to receiving their licenses as certified nursing assistants.
In Health Science 1, Cheryl Nowlan came to the career center and educated the students about a different type of health career. Nowlan taught students about the company Abbott and all the great things it has to offer for health care. Throughout the school year, health science students have been exposed to multiple types of careers that fall under the health category. By teaching different possible jobs, students can slowly begin to figure out which direction in the healthcare field they want to pursue.
Over at the Beauty Depot, a couple of seniors already have finished all their hours and stamps and are on their way to getting their cosmetology licenses. One student, Lay Boyd, passed her cosmetology test and now is licensed.
The Auto 1 class began studying brake systems and how they work. The Auto 2 class has been working on cars in the shop, repairing anything that needs help. Students in automotive are also allowed to work on their own cars and make changes or fix things in their vehicles. The auto shop is open for the public if anyone needs work on their vehicles. The class can weld, perform oil changes, and make other vehicular repairs.
In the construction class, students are nearing the end of their shed project. They have worked as a group to build a shed for a month and a half. Once this hands-on project is completed, the class will sell the shed online.
In Computer and Animation Design class, students began working on an independent project creating an animation.
The video and media class began working on their final film project for the school year. This project is either a music video, short scene, or an in-depth package. Students got in pairs for this project and began pre-production. Each video will be played at the red-carpet event to show how far along each student has gotten over the course of the school year.
80 students were honored this past week for National Technical Honor Society. Three students from each class were nominated for the society and were recognized by their teacher and the director of the Porter County Career Center, Audra Peterson. Congratulations to everyone who was nominated for the National Technical Honor Society!
Recently, one student from each class was nominated as student of the third quarter for the career center. Winning students received a gift card for Dairy Queen or Firehouse Subs and a certificate for the achievement.
Coming up
Since there is only one more month of school, PCTV news will air its final episode on Friday, May 7.
There will be one final e-learning day at the career center on May 17. This e-learning day will be operated asynchronously. Each class will have an assignment to complete that day, but in-class operations will resume on the following day.
The Health Science 2 class is hosting a health fair before the school year comes to an end. The class plans on hosting this event on May 7. At the health fair, students will take vital signs and teach the Heimlich maneuver. While the health fair is going on, there will also be a blood drive for all career center students to volunteer to donate blood to the Red Cross.
As the school year nears the end, many classes will begin their final projects. The video and media productions and computer and animation classes will host a red tie event where families and students can see the work they have completed within the school year.
Student highlight
Claire Wiltfang is a senior in the business class at the career center. Wiltfang plans on going to Indiana University to study international business at the Kelley School of Business.
The business class at the career center allows students to have in-class learning experiences as well as outside learning experiences. Each student in the business class must have a job they attend a couple times a week in place of coming to the career center. Wiltfang currently works at Designer Desserts in downtown Valparaiso. This opportunity has taught her a lot about sales and customer service.
Her favorite part about being in the business vocational is the opportunity to work on projects with people from other schools who are in her class. The biggest lesson she has learned is how to market to all different age groups.
By taking a business class at the career center, Wiltfang’s experiences have helped prepare her for the journey ahead of her in business. This class has taught her a lot about the basic lessons in business that she will be able to further expand during college.