New income to CTE programs
BVH CTE programs receive funding for 2023-2024 school year
On Feb. 21, BVH Autoshop teacher Jose Leyva instructed junior and autoshop student Rainer Moreno Guadaña how to torque a engine camshaft for proper operation. Autoshop students are taught with high quality equipment on real life repair situations.
Prior to winter break, Bonita Vista High (BVH) Career Technical Education (CTE) teachers were notified by BVH administration of new funding, curriculums and materials coming in from the Sweetwater Union High school (SUHSD) district. The new items will be used for the 2023-2024 school year in programs such as BVTV and Autoshop.
“[Autoshop is] getting a good amount of money for the program [as well as] other CTE programs. In terms of Autoshop, we are getting a whole new face lift here, so we are getting new cabinets, all new desks and machinery,” Auto Tech teacher Jose Leyva said.
Leyva explains how the new curriculum that is made for the next school year will be divided up into three courses; introduction, intermediate and advanced courses. He explains that the introduction class is going to cover general maintenance, intermediate is going to dive into it more tearing apart car parts and the advanced courses will have students build an electric car from the ground up. Levya describes what opportunities students will have after completing the Autoshop course.
“Using the skills that [students] have, they are going to be able to jump into the workforce a lot easier and they are not going to be starting at the bottom of the barrel like sweeping floors, organizing tools, doing a lot of the smaller work that you do when you’re the newest guy on the crew,” Levya said.
BVH principal Lee Romero mentions how the SUHSD had put money into the CTE program and Autoshop to bring in items like hydraulic lifts and electric cars. He further informs on how the overall CTE program seeks to interest students and introduce different career options.
“Something beautiful about CTE is that if a student takes [the CTE] class and they are interested in [doing things like] being able to fix your car, you don’t have to be in that career, but it gives you day to day abilities to learn how to work on certain things and do something different than the traditional [skills],” Romero said.
The BVH media program is another CTE program found on campus who will be receiving new materials and updated media techniques to show students such as green screen technology. CTE multimedia teacher Hugo Martinez is working to create a pilot program for the 2023-2024 school year as he works with industry experts on updated trends in the media industry and overall video production. He compares the work of the American space Western television series known as the Mandalorian series to what will be done in the new pilot program.
“The Mandalorian was created in an environment by LED walls [big screens made to display video as if they were computer monitors for indoor and outdoor] so that’s basically how new productions are being made. We are going to have an opportunity as a pilot program to establish a new class for next school year and everything is an exploring point at this point,” Martinez said.
Martinez highlights his goal for the new course to extend the pathway from the introductory course to the second course of television and film production with the BVTV broadcast. Then a third and final course for seniors and juniors in the program. As CTE teachers prepare for the next steps in their programs, Levya also explains his goal for the next school year in the Autoshop’s new courses: to encourage and bring in a wide range of BVH students.
“[For the next school year], I would like to see more girls in the class. I think that would be cool because it is mostly a male dominated class and I feel like there are a good amount of girls who are interested in the program, but might be intimidated,” Levya said. “I want to create a safe space where girls can come to the shop without thinking dudes are being weird or making fun of them for not being as familiar with something.”
Martinez and Levya explain their hopes for the next school year and how they are continuing to prepare and work in making sure “the program is going to be something to really show off and be proud of” as Levya described.
“[New CTE course material] is an exciting thing to do for the students who want to learn more and if we give them the opportunity and right information. I think that it’s going to really benefit those students,” Martinez said.
I am a junior at Bonita Vista High and this is my first year on staff for the Crusader. This year I am a photographer. I became a member of the Crusader...
