Career Certifications

Career and Technical Education Month

4 of 4

Being able to declare students as College or Career Ready is extremely important to Opelika City Schools and this can be done in a number of ways.  For the most part, our teachers have a good grasp of what it takes to be college ready because all of them attended college and have at least one degree.  The difficult part comes as we work to get students ready for a career.  Of course we are constantly working to help students with the soft skills that are vitally important to all careers.  However, few teachers have had careers outside of education, so they may not know what specific skills are needed for certain careers.  This makes it difficult for us to know which certification a particular industry places value in.  Thankfully the Office of Workforce Development and the Alabama State Department of Education have worked to create a list of industry-approved certification tests that we can offer our students.  Unlike the tests that are created by teachers to assess their students’ learning, these certification tests are created by businesses to assess if a person has the skills and knowledge necessary for a particular career.

Opelika High School is excited to offer at least one certification for each of the seven Career and Technical Education Programs offered to students.

Certification Offered for 2015-2016:

• Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources - Landscape Management Technician
• Business and Marketing - Microsoft Office, Quickbooks, and National Retail Federation
• Early Child Development Services - Alabama Educator Certification Assessment Program
• Restaurant and Food and Beverage Services - ServSafe Manager
• Project Lead The Way (Engineering) - Autodesk Inventor (CAD) Certified User
• Health Sciences - Certified Patient Care Technician and Certified Pharmacy Technician
• Information Technology - C-Tech Certified Copper Cabling Specialist

As always, Opelika City Schools is looking for ways of improving its Career and Technical Education Programs to better serve our students and our community.  This means that we must look for ways of better preparing our students to become valuable members of our community.  Therefore in the upcoming school year, Opelika High School is exploring the possibility of adding the following certifications.

• Business and Marketing - Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign
• Restaurant and Food and Beverage Services - ProStart National Certificate of Achievement
• Health Sciences - Certified Nursing Assistant
• Information Technology - C-Tech Certified Fiber Optic Cabling Specialist

If you know of other industry-recognized certifications that you feel would benefit our students after they graduate from Opelika High School, feel free to contact us with that information.

Dual Enrollment

Career and Technical Education Month

3 of 4

For the past few years there has been a focus on making sure that students leave high school “College and Career Ready”.  You might have heard these words used to describe the new standards that Alabama implemented a few years ago called the “College and Career Ready Standards”, commonly referred to as the Common Core.  So, what does it mean to be “College or Career Ready”?  In a nutshell, it means that when students walk across the stage after four years of high school, they should possess skills that will help them get a job or succeed in college.  

Having students take dual enrollment classes is one way in which a school can prepare students for college or a career.  At Opelika High School, students as young as 10th grade are taking dual enrollment courses at Southern Union State Community College (SUSCC).  These courses allow a student to obtain college credit and technical training simultaneously.  In the Spring semester of 2016, there are Opelika High School students enrolled in Welding I, Welding II, Automotive Service Technology, and Engineering Graphics and Design.  These classes are housed in the new Center for Integrated Manufacturing building on the campus of SUSCC.  The classes these students are taking are no different than the ones taken by full time students at SUSCC.  In fact OHS students are in the same class with the same instructor as full time SUSCC students.  The only difference between the two is that the high school students had their tuition paid for through scholarships from the Alabama State Department of Education.

Depending on the program that a student selects and their dedication, it is possible for a student to complete enough course work at SUSCC to earn a Short Term Certificate in a given program prior to their high school graduation.  Currently, Opelika High School also has a group of seniors that are enrolled in an Emergency Medical Technician program through SUSCC.  At the end of this semester, these students will sit for the E.M.T. license.  

As registration for the 2016-2017 school year continues, more students are becoming interested in taking advantage of the possibilities that SUSCC offers them.  We are excited about that growth and look forward to helping more students become “College and Career Ready”.

Opelika Middle School CTE Expo

Career and Technical Education Month

2 of 4

Opelika Middle School Career and Technical Education Expo

The time to start thinking about and planning for the 2016-2017 school year has already begun.  That means that every 8th grade student and parent of an 8th grade student is about to go through the transition from middle schooler to high schooler.  

One of the first things that happens to prepare 8th grade students for classes at Opelika High School happened on January 19 and 20.  We call it the OMS Career and Technical Education Expo.  We use this event to help all 8th graders experience some of the elective courses they can take as Freshmen.  Career and Technical Education Teachers from Opelika High School select student leaders from their classes to come to Opelika Middle School and make a short hands-on presentation to small groups of 8th graders.  It is a great opportunity for OMS students to see the many options available to them as they begin their high school experience.  It is also a great opportunity for Opelika High School students to practice the leadership skills they have been learning about in all of their Career Tech classes.  OMS students leave with a better understanding of what courses they are interested in as well as what those courses involve.  Our main goal with this event is to help students get interested and excited about coming to Opelika High School in hopes that they will take the classes that interest them the most.

The move from middle school to high school can sometimes be a little confusing, intimidating, and nerve wracking for both students and parents.  This is why Opelika City Schools offers a variety of opportunities for parents and students to make that transition a little bit easier.  For instance, on Tuesday, February 9 the OMS PAC Meeting will be focused on registration for 8th grade parents.  Staff from Opelika High School will be present to help fill out the documents needed to ensure upcoming 9th graders have the classes they need and want.  Parents will also have the option to sign up for an individual meeting with their child’s Guidance Counselor  to help ensure each schedule is correct.  For those that can’t make the February 9 meeting there will be similar meetings held on Thursday, February 11 at Carver Primary School on Carver Avenue and Thursday, February 18 at the Opelika Learning Center on Jeter Avenue.  

Prior to the start of the 2016-2017 school year, all upcoming Freshmen and parents can attend the “Freshman Orientation” held at Opelika High School.  This experience will provide parents and students a chance to get to know some of their teachers, see where their classes will be located, and gather information about life at the high school. 

As always, the staff at Opelika High School and Opelika Middle School are there to help answer any questions and provide any assistence to parents or students.

Career and Technical Education Month

Career and Technical Education Month

1 of 4

Many people probably do not know that in the education world February is considered Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month.  In fact, many people in the education world might not know that either, but February is CTE Month and for the next four weeks, I plan on providing you with a glimpse into what is going on in CTE at Opelika City Schools.  

Planning for the 2016-2017 school year began in October 2015 as teachers and administrators at Opelika High School began reviewing the courses offered at OHS.  This always leads to discussions of how OHS can better serve its students and the community by adding or deleting courses from its schedule for the upcoming year.  [This year was no different and in CTE there are a few courses that will be added in hopes of better preparing our students for life after high school as well as providing our community with employable young adults.]

AP Computer Science Principles

As part of the Information Technology Program, OHS will be offering AP Computer Science Principles for the first time in 2016-2017.  Students taking this course will receive weighted credit and be expected to take the College Board’s AP Exam during the spring of 2017. Additionally, this course will be able to count as a math credit for students.  There is a video link below that provides more details about exactly what Computer Science is.

Culinary Arts

OHS is very excited about the chance to expand into an entirely new program for 2016-2017.  We have traditionally offered students courses in Family and Consumer Sciences, but with the addition of Chef Judy Eldred to our faculty, we are able to offer students courses in the Culinary Arts.  Currently, students are cooking in residential kitchens, but OHS is in the process of creating a fully operational commercial kitchen for students to use during the 2016-2017 school year.  OHS faculty members are looking forward to tasting what Chef Eldred will have our students creating in the upcoming years.

Computer Integrated Manufacturing

As part of the Project Lead The Way curriculum OHS will be offering Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) as the third course in its Pre-Engineering Program.  The main focus of this class is to help answer questions such as: “How are things made?” and “What process goes into creating products?”.  Students will have opportunities to apply their engineering knowledge in this course to work through and solve real-world problems.

Certified Nurse Aide Training

Over the past three years the number of students interested in the OHS Health Sciences Program has grown dramatically.  To keep up with student interest, our Health Science teachers decided that they wanted to offer Certified Nurse Aide Training to their plate.  This course will allow OHS seniors to get the classroom time and the clinical time necessary to sit for their CNA Certification Exam prior to their graduation from Opelika High School.  So, be looking for OHS to have a few Certified CNA’s walk across the stage in May of 2017.

Senior Career Pathway Projects

All seven of the CTE programs at OHS have been working to find a senior level course that can be offered to students who have completed multiple courses within the same program.  For many of our programs that will be the Senior Career Pathway Project.  This course will allow OHS seniors that have demonstrated a strong interest in a particular pathway to take a class very similar to an independent study class.  Students will be placed with the appropriate teacher and allowed to select a project that interests them to work on.  This project will have to be approved by the teacher and be large enough in its scope to encompass the course.  At the completion of this course, students will be required to present their project and findings to a panel of related industry and community members for critique.  

Opelika City Schools is committed to “Educate Every Child, Every Day” and the Career Technical Education Department at OHS is striving to offer every student an opportunity to better their lives and our community.

For a complete list of coureses offered at OHS for the 2016-2017 school year you can access the Curriculum Guide by visiting the OHS Guidance  webpage.