Found an available, reasonably priced plumber lately? How about a fence-builder or anyone else in the construction trades?
Us neither.
In fact, we’re spending coveted weekends figuring out how to make repairs that look deceptively easy in YouTube videos, but actually aren’t.
We’re also putting energy into finding reliable workers with polished skills, with whom we can invest our time and resources. Employees with stable housing, who not only stick around, they definitely want to be here.
It’s a lot to ask.
The good news is that Durango High School’s new Impact Career Innovation Center isn’t just an original hub and experiential lab for students taking Career and Technical Education classes. It’s an incubator for Southwest employers to grow their own workforce.
Key to the center’s success are potential employers willing to engage face-to-face with students and, ideally, help develop workers. Connecting in person is one residual loss from the pandemic – for our students as well as community members. No online conversations or online learning will ever replace this.
The center’s doors are wide open to business communities. Abundant natural lights shines into this Impact building with large blue lettering.
Back in the day, CTE classes focused on wood shop or home economics and were often upstaged by academics. But CTE has come a long way in the modern world as the college experience – and its hefty price tag – aren’t right for every student, at this time.
Now, DHS’ CTE courses and industry certifications provide students with valuable credentials and applied experience, equipping them with a competitive edge in their chosen fields. Already, DHS students have earned Emergency Medical Technician certifications through a collaboration with Upper Pine River Fire Protection District.
This year’s class will also sit for the national exam for Certified Clinical Medical Assistant in May. Others have landed good-paying jobs in the region, including in car repair.
Fantastic accomplishments – and these high-schoolers haven’t yet graduated.
From the start, the center, built with funding from Bond 4A in November 2020, was meant to be a community facility with flexible spaces. It’s already accepting reservations.
The center will offer trainings in the health care profession, culinary arts, robotics, fashion design, construction and mechanical trades, and more. But it’s receptive to other ideas to what communities need.
If we don’t grab these bright kids, and incentivize them to work and stay in the Southwest, they’ll wander off to find opportunities elsewhere. Likely in larger cities, far from home.
These students are worth our time. As community members, we’re all responsible for their professional growth – not just their parents. Sharing the best parts of our work lives and lighting up young people is a nice feeling. They are looking for ways into jobs.
Think about it. If every business or professional setting connected with and inspired one student, our workforce would swell to happy numbers.
In Cortez, RE-1 School Superintendent Tom Burris said CTE courses focus on agriculture, and millinery and culinary arts, with catered meals offered in the area. Like Durango, Burris said, “The future development of CTE courses will be in response to careers in our area of the state.”
Durango School District Superintendent Karen Cheser’s imprint on the Impact Career Innovation Center had to do with believing that students should explore their ikigai (“ee-key-GAI”), a Japanese term that means the “sweet spot” that melds what you are good at, what you love, what the world needs and what you can be paid to do.
A beautiful concept.
We want students turning toward this. And in embracing that sweet spot, we see benefits for Southwest communities, with young professionals loving what they do and affording to live here.
The center will only complement the regional work-based learning platform Career Launch Southwest, where employers post opportunities.
The grand opening for the Impact Career Innovation Center, with its sustainable design features, modern workshops, computer labs, and studios equipped with the latest technology and tools, is 5:30 p.m. today.
Come share thoughts about employing our young people.
