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S2 E17 - Career and Technical Education in the OSD · Inside the OSD

• 0:01
  SPEAKER1: February was Career and Technical Education Month, and we have a robust career and technical education program at Oregon High School.
• 0:09
  Today we are meeting up with our school to Career Coordinator at OHS, as well as some students who are involved in the great opportunities that our program
• 0:18
  offers.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 0:26
  Here is your host, lifelong educator in our superintendent, Doctor Leslie Bergstrom.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER1: I'd like to begin with our school to career coordinator.
• 0:38
  Could you please introduce yourself and tell our listeners about your role in the Oregon School District?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER3: Hi, my name is Anna D'Amelio, and I'm the School to Career coordinator here in the Oregon School District.
• 0:49
  And the main functions of my role is I support students who wish to participate in work based learning programs.
• 0:55
  I support students who want to take classes, college classes off campus.
• 0:59
  Um, I support CTE, which are "career and technical education" departments, um, by financially by writing grants.
• 1:08
  Um, I have to collect and submit required data about our CTE programs to the state.
• 1:15
  Um, I also like to make a lot of connections with post-secondary partners and business partners so that we can link the high school with our students and vice
• 1:24
  versa.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER1: So we have a really robust career and technical education department or CTE.
• 1:31
  Actually it's multiple departments here in the Oregon School District.
• 1:35
  So could you tell me about our CTE departments and the offerings we have here?
• 1:39
  Yeah.
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  SPEAKER3: Now this is a question that can be confusing in all sorts of districts that I've been in.
• 1:44
  And so I always like to be able to answer this question and put it out there that career and technical education is taught by multiple departments like Miss
• 1:53
  Doctor Bergstrom had mentioned.
• 1:55
  And here we have agriculture.
• 1:57
  We have technology and engineering, we have business and information technology, we have marketing, and we have family and consumer science
• 2:05
  departments. Now, each of these departments branch into several different career pathways.
• 2:11
  For example, family and consumer science branches into areas such as education, hospitality and health care, um, technology and engineering branches into areas
• 2:20
  such as automotive, architecture and construction, and manufacturing.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER4: Wow.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER1: So how does CTE relate to our portrait of a graduate?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER3: Yeah, so it relates quite tightly, quite closely.
• 2:35
  Um, so students learn content and skills about their desired area.
• 2:40
  They can earn industry recognized credentials.
• 2:43
  They can, you know, participate in, in organizations, um, you know, that have all sorts of different components in terms of leadership
• 2:53
  development, volunteering, um, you know, skill development, networking.
• 2:59
  Um, students are able to challenge themselves by taking dual credit classes here and multiple CTE classes.
• 3:05
  They can earn industry recognized credentials, um, so that it proves that they have competency in a certain in a certain skill set
• 3:15
  because they have a state or a nationally endorsed certificate.
• 3:19
  Um, they can also participate in certified work based learning programs, such as youth apprenticeship or assisted childcare teacher and their desired pathway.
• 3:29
  Um, so CTE classes do help students develop their competencies because they have rigorous experiences.
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  They need to be able to think critically and creatively in order to solve work and solve work problems that there isn't a textbook answer for.
• 3:45
  Uh, challenging problems require challenging solutions.
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  Um, character development's the natural byproduct of student participation in CTE classes and programs.
• 3:55
  CTE helps students prepare to be productive and contributing members of societies and the society and the community where they're going to live and
• 4:04
  serve in, um, and CTE classes and programs absolutely support students and their readiness and their post graduation world.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER1: These are amazing opportunities.
• 4:15
  I definitely do not remember them being around when I was a high school student.
• 4:20
  This is an outstanding way for students to really broaden their experiences in high school.
• 4:27
  So what would you say to students who might be interested in exploring CTE classes and work based learning programs, but not quite sure where it's going to
• 4:36
  end up or what their real interest is?
• 4:39
  What's their first step?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER3: I think people don't know what they don't know about themselves, and I think it's important for them to take a chance and to broaden their, um, understanding
• 4:50
  and of themselves and to develop skills.
• 4:52
  And so employers are interested in the skills that you bring to the table.
• 4:56
  You also want to be able to network with people as well.
• 5:00
  And CTE programs and classes allow students to do that.
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  And so I really think that you might take a class, maybe you take an engineering class and you think you want to be an engineer, and you take the
• 5:13
  class and you're like, "I don't know if I really like doing this." That's good.
• 5:17
  Because now you know that that's not something that really aligns with what you're interested in.
• 5:21
  Maybe you take that engineering class and you say, "absolutely, where how can I sign up for more of this?" So either way, whether it's a class, whether it's a
• 5:29
  CTSO, whether it's a work based learning program, you're going to be able to take some valuable, learn some valuable skills, and those skills are
• 5:37
  transferable. So let's take that engineering example.
• 5:42
  Let's say you did youth apprenticeship in an engineering firm because you took the classes, you loved it and then you finally decided, "I am going to try for a
• 5:49
  work based learning experience." And maybe you're like, "I'm not sure about this." Well, that time wasn't lost because you learned what maybe you don't want
• 5:56
  to do and what you don't want to major in because you've experienced it outside of the high school or you've decided, absolutely, "I am for sure going to such
• 6:05
  and such a school to major in engineering, because I've lived it and I love it."
• 6:10
  SPEAKER1: That's a great way to put that.
• 6:12
  Thank you. Now we'll turn to our students.
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  So we have quite a few people sitting around the table today.
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  Can you also start by introducing yourself, your name, your grade in school?
• 6:24
  The career focus that you have right now?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER5: Um, my name is Morgan Spindler.
• 6:28
  I'm a senior at Oregon, and I'm pursuing engineering.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER6: I'm Cheyenne Johnson, I'm a senior at Oregon High School, and I'm pursuing veterinary technician degree.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER7: My name is Ashley Olsen.
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  I'm a junior at Oregon High School, and I plan on pursuing the agricultural field in veterinary medicine.
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  Um, my name is Avery Holtmann.
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  I am pursuing -- I'm a senior, and I'm pursuing a health care.
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  SPEAKER5: My name is Charlotte Swenson.
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  I'm a senior at Oregon Science-- or Oregon High School, and I am pursuing an actuarial science degree.
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  SPEAKER1: Thank you. And we had a student who was planning to be here representing hospitality.
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  So otherwise we have a wide variety of experiences and interests here.
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  So I'm really excited to learn more.
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  Tell us about how you became interested in your career pathway, types of skills and content knowledge you learned in your classes that will align with that
• 7:18
  career pathway.
• 7:19
  And I'll start with you, Morgan.
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  SPEAKER5: So my interest in engineering started really early for me.
• 7:26
  I like to watch a lot of movies with my dad, and when he got me into the Marvel Universe, I really liked the Iron Man movies.
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  Wow. Um, because all the engineering.
• 7:34
  And that was super cool.
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  Um, and then my brother attends UW-platteville currently for an electrical engineering degree, and he showed me some of the classes he's taken, and I
• 7:44
  always just thought it was really cool.
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  So it runs in
• 7:46
  SPEAKER1: the family a little bit? Definitely.
• 7:48
  All right. So then tell me about the content knowledge and the skills from your classes that you're going to apply.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER5: Um, so we offer a quite like plentiful amount when it comes to our tech ed um, like electronics foundations and technology, like engineering, drawing.
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  Pretty much any like subfield of engineering, you can find a class or two here for um, so I took as many of those as I can, and I'm applying a lot of that
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  to a future degree because I want to major in computer engineering.
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  Um, so like electronics is really relevant.
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  PC system servicing is really relevant.
• 8:21
  Um, and I'm going to get a certification for that class at the end of the year because it is dual enrollment with MATC.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER1: So it sounds as if you've taken most things in the career and technical -- in one -- in that particular department?
• 8:32
  Yeah. Oh, that's really cool.
• 8:34
  Thank you. Yeah, I kind
• 8:35
  SPEAKER5: of live in the 900 hallway.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER1: That's a great place to live.
• 8:39
  Great place to live.
• 8:41
  Uh, Cheyenne, how about you're next?
• 8:43
  Yeah.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER6: So, veterinary technician, I didn't really know it existed until about my freshman year of high school, so I started my ag career in the
• 8:53
  beginning, joining Oregon headliners 4H club.
• 8:56
  It's a great way to start as I'm currently an FFA, and it's a great start for kids who maybe just want to bring their animals to the fair and basically
• 9:05
  showcase their project.
• 9:07
  They can even showcase art.
• 9:08
  They can showcase plenty full of different things at the county fair and at the local fair level.
• 9:14
  So when I got to high school, I found a class called Animals, Plants, and You.
• 9:20
  And it was taught by Mrs.
• 9:21
  Beaty. And it's basically a start to agriculture, learning about different breeds, learning the anatomy and physiology of all those breeds and
• 9:31
  species and how they work and how they can apply to your real life.
• 9:37
  And that's basically where my whole ag career really shot off is being in that class and being related with Miss Beaty as my advisor now,
• 9:47
  and taking all the different classes offered in that classroom, and there's animals that even live in that classroom.
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  So there, sure, you can imagine there's so much opportunity there.
• 9:58
  Yeah. And if you're not an animal person, there's a greenhouse right next door too.
• 10:01
  So you can always take care of all the plants.
• 10:03
  So there's a great start there.
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  And um, now I am a school to work student at Country View Equine Clinic.
• 10:12
  And being an assistant there has really taught me how the technician can really help the veterinarian.
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  I didn't think that -- I thought mostly the veterinarian did a lot of things on their own or had some sort of office help, but the technician wasn't
• 10:28
  present in my younger career as much as I wanted to.
• 10:32
  Um, so now I kind of saw that they help with a lot of the procedures, making sure everything's clean, getting things ready.
• 10:41
  So I think school to career was a big boost.
• 10:43
  And definitely knowing what I wanted to do.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER1: Yeah, it helped you know what was out there.
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  SPEAKER6: Uh, working in it.
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  Yeah. And as well as that Animals, Plants, and You class, we studied different careers in the agriculture path.
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  And that was one of them that really interested me because as a kid, I really wanted to be a veterinarian, but I didn't know if it was quite right for me.
• 11:03
  So I wanted to help animals, and that was the other way to do it.
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  SPEAKER1: Wow. Thank you.
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  Okay, Ashley, tell us your story.
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  SPEAKER7: So I'm a junior here.
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  And I have taken a lot, of course-related work.
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  Um, when I was little, I said I always wanted to be a veterinarian, and I was in the Brooklyn Mighty Mites 4H until my freshman year.
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  Um, and then I switched over to FFA once I realized this is really what I wanted to do.
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  So my freshman year, I took the intro to AG class, and I learned this is what I want to do.
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  I want to be a veterinarian.
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  And it really solidified my ideas of that.
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  So growing up, I always did still projects at the local and county fairs.
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  I never did any animal projects.
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  Once I got to high school and I took Mrs.
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  Beaty's classes, I was like, "I want to do animal things.
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  I don't want to just sit in the back seat.
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  I want to be with the animals.
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  I want to be doing everything like that." So I have taken pretty much all of the agriculture education classes here at the high school.
• 12:07
  And now this year, I am taking classes up at University of Wisconsin-Madison in the veterinary hospital.
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  So I'm getting more of the real world.
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  This is what happens on a daily basis in the vet school or in the vet hospital, and it's really helped me to understand and continue my path in veterinary
• 12:25
  medicine. Um.
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  SPEAKER1: How much of your day are you spending up at the UW?
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  SPEAKER7: So I go to the UW two hours every week.
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  So on Wednesdays I go to class, um, for two hours.
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  We typically have guest speakers.
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  Um, so this week we've been doing large animal guest speakers like ruminants, equine, all the things about that.
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  And in past weeks, we've learned, like every single part of the animal.
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  We go over all the anatomy and physiology.
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  So one week we'll learn about eyes and ears.
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  Another week we'll learn about the digestive system, the respiratory system, all of those things like that.
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  SPEAKER1: Um, so I'm just curious.
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  Tell me about how you feel about the academic rigor related to the class you're taking there and classes you might take here.
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  How much of a step up is it for you?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER7: So yeah. So this class I'm taking is part of the youth apprentice program.
• 13:25
  Yeah. So all the students in my class this year are all high school students.
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  SPEAKER1: Got it. Okay.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER7: It's -- it's a really great community.
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  There's like about 15 of us high school students.
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  I'm one of the few juniors in the class, but we have a course rigor weekly.
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  And we read chapters and we complete, um, related assignments.
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  So from an agriculture education class here, you're in the classroom every day.
• 13:54
  Right. At this class, I'm in the classroom once a week, and then I have about 2 to 3 assignments to complete before the next class.
• 14:01
  Got it. It's definitely a step up, but I wouldn't say it's as hard as you might think it would be.
• 14:08
  It's definitely towards that college level, but I'm very knowledgeable in the agriculture industry, so that helps me in learning things quicker.
• 14:16
  Um, and because of all the course related work I've taken here at the high school prior it, the class just builds on my learning.
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  It's not all new, which is very helpful.
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  And
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  SPEAKER1: exactly as it's designed to be.
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  So that's wonderful.
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  Thanks for sharing that.
• 14:30
  Um, all right, Avery.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER7: So I'm interested in health care.
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  I am interested in becoming a medical doctor.
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  Um, I have really wanted to be a doctor for almost my entire life.
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  Um, I grew up around the medical field because my mom is a nurse.
• 14:47
  And then I also have experienced a lot of the medical field through myself, because I do have a chronic illness, that I have been benefited by the, um,
• 14:56
  health care field for almost my entire life because of it.
• 15:00
  Wow. Um, so coming into high school, I really knew that I wanted to do something in the medical field.
• 15:07
  I was pretty set on being a doctor, but I wasn't quite sure what field I really wanted to go into.
• 15:14
  Um, and I've taken almost every single health care related class we have offered here.
• 15:19
  And I after last year, my junior year, I took AP psych and I took anatomy and physiology, and after taking those two classes, I just
• 15:29
  really found my love for like, neurology.
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  And I, um, have decided that neuro and neurosurgery specifically is really my area of focus.
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  I just find, like, the brain so interesting.
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  And by taking those two classes and kind of getting a mix of the very medical side through anatomy and physiology and also the psychology side from AP
• 15:53
  psychology, I was really able to like focus on that interest and see, like the side of medicine I want to focus
• 16:03
  on.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER1: Um, wow. That's fascinating.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER7: Yeah. And so I think almost every single one of my classes I've taken here, whether they have been focused on health care
• 16:16
  or something else entirely have helped me with different skills that I'm going to need in the future.
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  Like communication, presenting all those kinds of things and just like have made me like the learner and the
• 16:33
  person that I am today.
• 16:35
  And without those classes, I would probably still be trying to figure out what I want to do, other than the fact that I wanted to go into health care.
• 16:44
  And I think it's it's really important that I know that that's my interest now, because that's what I'm planning on majoring in and everything.
• 16:53
  So I just feel like I've gotten such a good variety of information from all those classes to be able to.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER1: Yeah, I love how it was classes from different departments, even that when you synthesize them, it led to you knowing what you wanted to do.
• 17:08
  That's that's a unique aspect of your story.
• 17:11
  Thank you. Okay, Charlotte, how about you?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER5: Um, so pretty much for me, I've always loved math.
• 17:17
  Math has just been a huge part of my life.
• 17:20
  I've -- I just love doing it.
• 17:22
  Um, and so when I got to high school, I knew I wanted to do something with math, but I didn't really know what, like, career fields were out there.
• 17:29
  And so, um, I took obviously the basic math classes that you take.
• 17:34
  And then, um, towards my later years in high school, I took a few business classes, and that includes accounting and, um, uh, business
• 17:44
  economics and marketing and leadership one, I think.
• 17:47
  And, um, so those classes really showed me how the math like aspect of life can be applied to the business world.
• 17:55
  And it really showed me that that's where I want to spend my future.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER1: So you found you found an avenue for what you already knew you really love?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER5: Yes. And this year in accounting, um, my teacher, uh, um, wanted me to join the club FBLA, which we used to
• 18:14
  have at the high school. But, um, once Covid happened, it went away.
• 18:17
  And now we're trying to bring it back.
• 18:18
  And this year, there weren't that many kids that were able to do it because it was very, um, quiet.
• 18:24
  And but being at FBLA and being at the regional competition at Columbus this year, it really showed me that there's a whole world out there of people, even
• 18:34
  though there was only like five people on our team.
• 18:35
  There is a huge world out there of people that have the same interests or similar, and it just really showed me that there's my people out there.
• 18:42
  Right.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER1: It's comforting and energizing at the same time, right?
• 18:46
  Well, Charlotte, you already started talking about the career and technical student organizations that we have here when you spoke about FBLA.
• 18:53
  So now I'm going to go back over here to Morgan, and we'll start with what associations are you involved with?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER5: So I'm very involved with SkillsUSA, which is our tech competition club here.
• 19:06
  It's a national organization.
• 19:08
  Uh, but the Oregon chapter specifically has done a lot the past few years.
• 19:12
  Yes. Um, they were pretty active before Covid.
• 19:15
  And then once quarantine happened, like, because it would be hundreds of people meeting up at colleges, that kind of had to stop.
• 19:22
  Um, but once it came back, um, Hawk, who's one of the advisors for it, Mr.
• 19:27
  Haakenson, he teaches a lot of the tech ed classes.
• 19:30
  He saw that I was doing well and like his electronics class and other classes similar.
• 19:34
  And was like, "hey, you should join SkillsUSA." Yeah.
• 19:37
  And I'm like, "okay, why not?" And then I went to one competition.
• 19:41
  I did really well, and then I committed to it for the rest of the year.
• 19:44
  And then the next year there were only a few people returning.
• 19:48
  So a lot of the members were seniors.
• 19:50
  Um, so I was elected president of that remaining group.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER7: And well, congratulations on that.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER1: Okay. Thank you.
• 19:57
  That's really terrific.
• 19:59
  So you've engaged in multiple competitions now?
• 20:02
  Oh, yeah. Yeah. All right.
• 20:04
  Thank you. Cheyenne, how about you?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER6: Yeah. So this year I'm the secretary of the Oregon FFA chapter, and FFA is basically agricultural education.
• 20:13
  And one of the things our chapter has been specifically struggling with is how you're supposed to maybe live on a farm to be an FFA.
• 20:21
  And that's totally not true.
• 20:23
  We have so many members that live in town.
• 20:25
  That's a great
• 20:26
  SPEAKER1: clarification. You don't have to live on a farm to be in agriculture.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER6: No, agriculture is so much a part of our daily life, and it can apply to many different things and careers that high school students may want to do.
• 20:39
  And recently we've had competitions for LDEs, or leadership development events, or CDEs, career development events.
• 20:47
  And through FFA, we can compete with our knowledge of these careers or practice our speaking and compete and basically learn about these career paths and
• 20:57
  show what we know.
• 20:58
  And it's a great opportunity for any high school student who's basically looking for any career paths through agriculture.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER1: And there were quite a few medal winners at the last round of competition, so that's really cool too.
• 21:10
  Yeah. All right.
• 21:11
  Ashley? Yeah.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER7: So. I'm also in FFA.
• 21:14
  I'm currently the Vice president of the FFA.
• 21:17
  Um, just as Cheyenne said, we're doing a lot this year with competitions.
• 21:21
  Next week we go on to sectionals for our speaking competitions, and we're taking about five students to at their chance to make it to the state
• 21:29
  competition. And then also next week we're advancing.
• 21:33
  Well, we're not advancing, but we are starting our career development events, and we are qualifying, um, to try to make it to state for those.
• 21:42
  Wow. So we are hoping to make it to a lot of state events as of next week.
• 21:47
  Um, but through FFA, I've been able to find my people.
• 21:52
  Um, I've always kind of known that I wanted to be in the agricultural industry, and I did not grow up on a farm, and I did most of the things just
• 22:01
  non-animal at the start.
• 22:03
  And then FFA last year, I started showing poultry, and the opportunity came to me with FFA because of the people that I met.
• 22:13
  Um, and I have gone to multiple state conventions, and I went to national convention in Indianapolis this past November, and I met
• 22:23
  people from all over the United States and the territories, which was so cool.
• 22:27
  And through FFA, I've also been able to complete a lot of applications.
• 22:32
  So in May of last year, I completed an application to serve as a Wisconsin national delegate to elect the next year's national officers.
• 22:41
  There were 15 applicants and I was one of the three interviewed.
• 22:44
  I unfortunately did not receive the position, but I gained a lot of knowledge of how interviews work.
• 22:51
  So I completed the application and I pretty much went into that interview pretty blind.
• 22:57
  I did
• 22:57
  SPEAKER1: not know
• 22:58
  SPEAKER7: what they were going to ask me how things were going to go, and it was just on the spot.
• 23:03
  I had to do it.
• 23:04
  That opportunity helped me with my job interviews that I've been completing.
• 23:09
  So I currently have a youth apprentice at a doggy daycare, and now I'm applying for vet clinics around the area.
• 23:17
  And what I've learned in FFA has helped me with those interviews, and they're going to help me with my future interviews.
• 23:24
  And I'm advancing to sectionals, um, for next Wednesday in employment skills.
• 23:28
  So I've really taken FFA in the competition in employment skills and learning all those industry related knowledge to actually applying it while also
• 23:38
  learning it, which is a huge thing because organizations like this give you the opportunity to practice, to learn as well as applying it.
• 23:47
  And this also goes with the Agriculture Education has a three circle model.
• 23:51
  We have the education in the classroom, our SAE programs which are supervised agricultural experiences, and then the FFA organization.
• 24:00
  And my experience with employment skills has really started to shape my three circle model into a stronger one and enforce it in FFA.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER1: So you, uh, speak about this so well.
• 24:13
  Is that one of your events to be able to speak about this?
• 24:17
  Um, no. No.
• 24:18
  Okay. I thought maybe it was connected.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER7: So basically for employment skills, I fill out all these applications and then I go into the room pretty blind of what they're gonna ask me.
• 24:27
  Oh, so
• 24:27
  SPEAKER1: the interview piece is that.
• 24:29
  Okay.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER5: So yeah, you go
• 24:31
  SPEAKER7: into -- you go into a room, you fill out a job application, you've completed your resume or cover letter and a job description prior to going to the event.
• 24:38
  And then the biggest scoring piece is the interview.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER1: So it's how you -- how you answer questions that you don't necessarily know ahead of time what they're going to be.
• 24:49
  So it's a true interview?
• 24:51
  Yeah.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER7: It's -- it was definitely hard.
• 24:53
  It was my first year competing in it.
• 24:54
  But I, I did very well.
• 24:56
  And learning that is definitely going to help me.
• 25:00
  And just being put on the spot is a huge thing in any career path that you end up going into, because it's the truth.
• 25:09
  Yes, maybe you're going to meet someone and there's going to be an on spot interview.
• 25:12
  You just never know.
• 25:13
  So creating those skills through the FFA has helped me majorly.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. So, um, Avery, tell us about your career and technical student organization.
• 25:22
  Um, so.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER7: I have been involved in Hosa since my freshman year.
• 25:26
  Um, I've actually been leadership in the club since my freshman year as well.
• 25:29
  I was originally the secretary, then my sophomore year I was the vice president.
• 25:33
  And then the last two years I've been a co-president, and now I'm just the president this year.
• 25:38
  Um, I have done a lot of competing with my club.
• 25:42
  Um, Hosa has, um, competitions every year.
• 25:45
  We have a regional, then a state and then an international.
• 25:50
  Um, my sophomore year, I actually advanced to the international level, um, in human growth and development, um, test.
• 25:57
  So we write a test or we do like competitions, like group competitions or just specific, like individual competitions, like there's a CNA one, there's
• 26:07
  like medical assistant.
• 26:09
  Um, and so my sophomore year I actually went to the international competition alone, which was in Nashville, Tennessee.
• 26:16
  I went there with my parents.
• 26:18
  Um, I just really wanted the experience.
• 26:20
  And by going and doing that, um, I learned a lot of how to make connections and how to reach out to other people and not
• 26:30
  be afraid to just be myself and a specific group and just talking to people around me.
• 26:36
  I was able to learn, like, all the different kinds of things people want to go, to go into in the medical field and just talking to other people.
• 26:44
  I was able to see a different perspective of why people want to go into the medical field, why people are in Hosa, what kinds of things they do in their
• 26:53
  chapters. And it was just a really great experience to learn all of those skills and learn about just other people in the medical field as well, and
• 27:02
  different career paths in the medical field.
• 27:05
  Um, and also through our chapter of Hosa here at Oregon High School, we have been trying to make it bigger.
• 27:13
  Right now it's very small.
• 27:15
  Um, it has been bigger in the past.
• 27:17
  But just as the years go on, um, so reaching out and like the classes like Intro to Occupational Health or Medical Terminology and asking those students if
• 27:26
  they would want to join.
• 27:28
  And then we also last year we ran a blood drive at the school here, and I led that and put it together.
• 27:35
  It was not easy, but I bet we met our goal we got, I think it was 45 donations around from the students and other people in the
• 27:45
  community. And just by doing that, we're helping not only our specific community, but other people around the world.
• 27:52
  Because the Red cross is such a amazing organization.
• 27:56
  And right now we're we have a blood shortage around the world.
• 28:00
  Um, and just getting to facilitate that was also a great opportunity to learn these different skills.
• 28:07
  And just being personable with other people and going to administration and going to other people in the community and
• 28:16
  SPEAKER1: learning how to make things happen.
• 28:18
  Exactly. You know, I'm listening to all of you.
• 28:20
  And as you're speaking, I'm thinking you're all really the personification of our portrait of a graduate with the experiences you've had, the way you've
• 28:30
  opened yourself up to new experiences, and then all the skills you are cultivating through that, it's it's outstanding.
• 28:38
  So now I'm just going to ask our seniors right now.
• 28:41
  So you're in your final few months.
• 28:43
  Okay. All but one student here is a senior.
• 28:48
  So I'm going to start with Charlotte.
• 28:49
  So tell us what's next for you.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER5: Um, I plan to attend Iowa State for actuarial Science and I am very excited.
• 29:00
  I have toured before and I just loved the campus.
• 29:04
  And, um, I specifically loved the business college.
• 29:08
  There were so many opportunities, um, that not necessarily applied to me, but that were experiences that I would love to, um, make use of,
• 29:17
  even if I'm not going into that career path.
• 29:19
  I know they had, um, they have a great entrepreneurship center, um, business development centers, and they're just such a wide range of majors that weather,
• 29:29
  um, not saying that I'm going to change my major or something, but there are so many opportunities out there.
• 29:33
  And the, um, the experience that I've gained from Oregon has shown me that I can do a multitude of things in the business field.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER1: Ah, I love that, Avery.
• 29:42
  How about you?
• 29:42
  SPEAKER7: Um, so I'm planning on attending the University of Wisconsin Madison next year.
• 29:47
  Um, I'm planning on majoring in neurobiology in Spanish pre-med.
• 29:51
  Um, and I chose to go to UW Madison for a lot of reasons.
• 29:56
  One, it's one of the best schools in the area.
• 30:00
  And then I also really like the fact that it was a level one research center, because I really want to get involved in research, and specifically because UW
• 30:08
  Madison has a Alzheimer's Research Foundation.
• 30:11
  And through my job, I've been doing youth apprenticeship for the last two years, and I work in memory care.
• 30:18
  So I have seen the impacts that Alzheimer's and dementia has on people in their everyday life.
• 30:24
  And it's really sparked like a deep interest in that, which also with my interest in neurobiology, that that pathway is really interesting to me and
• 30:34
  something that I want to benefit because it also runs in my family.
• 30:37
  So the fact that UW Madison has that research right there on campus, and you can very much get into that your freshman year, you can
• 30:47
  help everything with that research, and you can also branch out and do your own research based on that.
• 30:54
  That was really important to me, because that's something that I really want to get into, especially before going to med school and just learning like the
• 31:00
  different aspects of what can I do?
• 31:02
  I can become a doctor, but what other things could I be doing on the side?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER1: Right on the side?
• 31:07
  That's, that's that's ambitious and I love it.
• 31:10
  How about you, Cheyenne?
• 31:11
  SPEAKER6: Yeah, so I'm attending UW platteville this fall to major in animal science.
• 31:17
  So in order to get my veterinary technician degree, I am going to be attending either Platteville for two years or transferring for my second year to MATC in
• 31:27
  order to get my degree, since it only takes 2 to 3 years, which is kind of cool about this degree.
• 31:32
  And luckily, Platteville has kind of been my second home my whole entire life.
• 31:37
  My grandma lived there her whole life, the whole side of my mom's family.
• 31:43
  That's where they grew up.
• 31:44
  And my grandma is an alumni who used to work for the athletic department.
• 31:50
  My grandma and my uncle, my mom and my uncle went there for one year and four years for accounting as well as
• 32:00
  police officer, and it's basically my second home.
• 32:04
  We'd go there every two weeks just to go visit my grandma.
• 32:08
  I know the town by heart, and the agriculture part of that college is insane.
• 32:16
  Uh, UW Madison River Falls and Platteville were any of my choices.
• 32:21
  But if I wanted to go to a college that I know I can financially afford and enjoy, I definitely chose
• 32:30
  UW-platteville as my first pick.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER1: And you said it's a popular choice for a lot of the students going into agriculture?
• 32:36
  Yeah. Agriculturally related things.
• 32:39
  Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
• 32:40
  And you Morgan?
• 32:42
  SPEAKER5: So I'm not completely committed for sure, but I'm probably going to attend, uh, UW-Madison in the fall.
• 32:48
  Um, to major in computer engineering.
• 32:51
  Um, I chose there as one of my top options, specifically because their college of engineering is really good for the area.
• 32:58
  Right? It's pretty prestigious in terms of engineering.
• 33:02
  Um, and just they have such a broad range of programs available.
• 33:06
  But one of the things that SkillsUSA really preaches is just that you don't have to go to a four year university they really like, because each of the
• 33:14
  regional events are hosted at different technical colleges around the state.
• 33:17
  Right. Each of them have their own little spiel about like, this is what you can do at this college specifically, but you don't have to go to a university
• 33:24
  for, um, because a lot of things in tech, ed, you really don't need a bachelor's degree for.
• 33:29
  And that's a really common misconception.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER1: I'm glad you put that out there, that there's a lot of pathways available to students.
• 33:35
  It doesn't always have to be a four year university.
• 33:39
  That's terrific.
• 33:40
  And that's exactly the point that Cheyenne was making too.
• 33:44
  So thank you. I can't wait to see what all of you are going to do.
• 33:48
  Um, this has been really exciting to me to hear you talk about how your current experiences have prepared you, and then the sky's the limit
• 33:58
  for all of you. So we're really proud of you.
• 34:01
  You're about to be Oregon grads, and then in one more year, you'll be an Oregon grad.
• 34:07
  Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at OregonSD.Org/
• 34:17
  podcast. You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
• 34:22
  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
• 34:28
  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.