This month, ISD 917 demonstrated collaboration, innovation, and personalization as we launched our first Career & Technical Education (CTE) Career Exploration Camp in partnership with Dakota County. Camp participants explored their strengths with Traitify, cooked delicious food with Chuck in the culinary program, created designs with Anna in Adobe Photoshop, worked toward certification in lifesaving CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) with Becky, and learned more about ISD 917 and DCTC. Some students enjoyed the first week so much that they asked to return for the second week as well!
Our goals with this program were to provide a positive learning experience for students in Dakota County, engage students in active CTE learning, and introduce them to possible pathways from high school to college and/or careers. The unique location of our ISD 917 DCALS (Dakota County Area Learning School) and CTE programs, within the Dakota County Technical College (DCTC) campus, provided camp participants with a new perspective on what high school can look and feel like. Each day, students learned new skills and created tangible artifacts of their learning. In some cases, they were even able to bring food home to their families! Camp participants provided positive feedback on their experiences, particularly getting experience working with their hands and learning new skills.
Thank you to the Dakota County and ISD 917 staff who helped make this vision a reality, and thank you to our CTE Career Exploration Camp participants for spending part of your summer with us!