Attending classes and receiving a hands-on experience in the construction trades at the Montcalm Area Career Center can prove to be a rewarding experience for many high school students.
However, as dozens of second-grade students from elementary schools at Central Montcalm, Montabella and Vestaburg poured into the building last week, youths such as Central Montcalm senior and MACC construction trades student Gabe Lewis, 17, served up lasting educational memories not just for themselves, but for the youngsters to hang onto for perhaps a lifetime.
Who are you? Penny Dora, 57. Greenville has been my home for 40 years. I graduated from Central Montcalm High School so I am definitely a Montcalm County girl.
Crawling around on his hands and knees in complete darkness, surrounded by a haze of fog, Connor Erskin relied on a new set of skills he had learned only moments earlier to guide him toward his goal.
The Carson City-Crystal junior, working together with a classmate, was dressed from head to toe in full firefighter gear last week, participating in a search and rescue exercise on April 28 as part of the weeklong “fire week” in his Public Safety course at the Montcalm Area Career Center.
With every screw tightened into place, with each piece of wood fixated together with glue, students from Central Montcalm Upper Elementary School received a peek into the world that a career in construction trades might offer them one day.
During a trip to the Montcalm Area Career Center on April 28, fifth graders from the elementary school were paired with high school students enrolled in the MACC’s construction trades program, where they worked together to assemble wood boxes for a special use.
For as long as he can remember, Montabella senior Brandon Wheeldon, 17, has never doubted what he wanted to do in life — follow in his father’s footsteps.
“It really started with my dad being a Marine in Afghanistan and Iraq for several years, and that led to me wanting to go into the military as well,” he said.
Having spent years working out his family’s business in Edmore, Lakeview senior Cael Ryan, 18, has always had a grasp on machinery, equipment and how one might envision a career in such fields.
But as a student in the Montcalm Area Career Center’s Diesel & Equipment Technology program, Ryan’s home-grown talents at Ryan’s Equipment have been given a chance to be refined, with room for growth and a chance to flourish at every turn.
Nearly certain she wanted to work toward a career as a teacher, Greenville High School senior Kylie Roberts, 17, was unsure what path might best put her in a situation to move forward on that goal two years ago.
Now after having gained a fair amount of real-world experience in a classroom setting, Roberts is thanking herself for having enrolled in the Education Careers program at the Montcalm Area Career Center in helping to solidify her decision of wanting to teach children.
The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) is pleased to announce that 65 high school and 10 college students statewide are recipients of the 2021 Breaking Traditions Awards — including two montcalm Area Career Center students.
Each of these students overcame obstacles and stereotypes to succeed in career and technical education (CTE) programs considered non-traditional for their gender. These students are ”breaking traditions” by pursuing careers in which fewer than 25% of persons working in that field are their gender.
