Here are few of our latest Student Success Stories. There will be more added, but for now, check out Racheal Nyarko, Community Protector; Marc Snooks, Information Sponge; and David Yoder, Spark Enthusiast.
LANDON SHARP:
KNOWLEDGE SEEKER
Watching. Learning. Doing. Succeeding. At its core, this is CTE’s mission statement for students. Landon Sharp stripped his CTE experience down to the basics and turned it into a winning formula for life.
A 2024 Harrison High School graduate, Sharp has taken the lessons learned in CTE’s Welding Technology program and combined it with a driven work ethic, a thirst for expertise and a nose for opportunity. The outcome is happily predictable.
“Due to taking the welding course through CTE, I got a very good opportunity at Smith Truck Body in Rosebush, which is owned by Curtis Smith,” Sharp said. “Smith Truck Body has an entire build department which consists of custom up-fitting of hooklift and rolloff trucks.”
After his first year at CTE, Sharp took advantage of a Smith’s desire to hire a student eager to learn new things. That summer job turned into a work-based learning experience in his second year at CTE. And that became a full-time gig after graduation.
“I worked throughout the summer of 2023 and I really enjoyed what I was doing,” Sharp said. “I did quite a bit of welding and starting doing a lot of mechanic work. As the new school year started, I talked to my instructors about what I was doing.”
One of CTE’s high-impact outcomes is student placement in community businesses through its work-based learning program. Students gain essential experience in the workplace while continuing their studies in CTE, and companies get an early, comprehensive look at potential employees.
“As I got my CTE assignments turned in, my instructors noticed how much progress I was making in the class and decided to bump me up to three days a week at Smith Truck Body,” he said. “I worked that way through the rest of the school year and still got all of my assignments in as needed, and when I graduated, Curtis was more then willing to have me back. I started working full-time in late May, and I’m still there.”
Smith Truck Body’s claim to excellence is being able to take any truck and make it look amazing. Sharp learned early on from CTE Welding Instructor Phil Schafer about the value of taking pride in one’s work.
“Phil used to ask us: How would you want it to look if it was yours?” Sharp said. “I took that in quite a bit, because I felt that if I was to do something to my truck that was welding-related, I would want it to look nice. And if I was to do that to someone else’s vehicle, I would want it to look nice for them, too.
“It was one of the biggest things I got from CTE - that habit of holding that higher standard for the work you do.”
It’s not lost on Sharp that CTE opened doors to a career, a more well-rounded life and a passion for what he does.
“The biggest thing is I knew from the start that welding paid very well,” he said. “But in reality, that’s not the reason I took welding. I took the class because I wanted to have that type of knowledge in my life - so I could figure things out on my own if I have to.”
Sharp’s hunt for the next new thing hasn’t diminshed since he left the CTE welding program.
“Now I’m doing a lot of diesel mechanic work and still learning something new every day,” he said. “I think that if I wouldn’t have taken the CTE welding course, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in. And I’m thankful to my friends and my boss, who really took a chance on me and he really didn’t know what he was getting himself into.”
Asked what he would tell students considering CTE, Sharp’s response is both enthusiastic and rooted in reality.
“Do it,” he said. “You can learn real world things, and the real world can make you money. Curtis Smith used to be a student in the CTE automotive class, and he turned his knowledge into an entire business.”