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.
JENNIFER SLACK:
CLASSROOM CARETAKER
Jennifer Slack seems like one of those people who refuse to skip to the end of the movie, someone who wants to enjoy the entirety of the experience. She approaches her career the same way.
The 2020 Harrison graduate spent two years in CTE’s Education Occupations program, earning credentials that enabled her to work in her current position as a Special Education Paraprofessional at Larson Elementary in Harrison.
“When I joined CTE, I knew I wanted to be a teacher, and the Education Occupations program just confirmed it,” said Slack, who also serves as a substitute teacher in the district. “Being able to see each student’s growth from the beginning to the end is the best part.”
Slack is an enthusiastic supporter of CTE and the opportunities it provides to high schoolers in Clare and Gladwin Counties, including getting out into the real world and seeing education as a career from a front-row seat.
“CTE helped influence my career choices by giving me the opportunity to get experience in a school setting,” she said. “It helped me realize that working with kids is what I wanted to do.”
The dual track of in-classroom experience alongside the chance to earn industry certification is a familiar path for CTE students, and Slack took full advantage.
“CTE gave me the skills of working with children - how to determine their needs without them saying anything - and it helped me get my paraprofessional certificate,” she said. “It allowed me to work side-by-side with a teacher, run a lesson or a small group, and help students grow.”
At the heart of every successful CTE program is a teacher who possesses a unique understanding of the field. Slack wastes no time in crediting Margaret Bailey, her since-retired CTE EO instructor.
“My CTE instructor was amazing!” Slack said. “Mrs. Bailey helped me prepare for the parpro test, and she helped us understand how kids develop and how each part of their development is important.”
The longer Slack participated in CTE, the higher the program’s benefits seemed to stack.
“The course helped me with my college courses, too,” she said. “It gave me a head start in a lot of the beginning classes and even counted as credits for college.
“We also did weekly field trips to CMU’s STEM department, which was a blast,” she added. “A lot of what I learned during those trips I put back into the classroom that I help with. Even today, I do a lot of those projects in my class.”
For her part, Bailey believes in her former student.
“Jennifer had a sense of determination, along with a great work ethic,” Bailey said. “She used her sense of humor and stories of her animals to relate to some of the concepts in our class. Jennifer could work with a variety of students and was very dependable in our CTE classroom and at her placement site in Harrison. She developed mature skills as she worked in the elementary. I could see that she could be successful in any career that she chose in working with children.”
As voters consider whether to support the May 6 CTE millage renewal, the program certainly has a fan in Slack, who applauds the opportunities afforded to hundreds of local young people every year.
“These kids have an amazing opportunity,” she said. “CTE is an amazing way to figure out what you want to do in a career. It allows students to figure out if what they think they want to do is really what they want to do. It allows students to explore all the different options without having to pay tuition.
“It’s a great way for students to get real-life experience and learn what their true calling is - to walk out with ready-to-work experiences and lots of certifications.”