25 Years of Helping Students Refine Skills
Posted on: Friday, 16 May 2008, 18:00 CDT
By Howard Buck, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.
May 16--No, it's not "billions and billions served," ala a certain fast-food chain.
But surely the 18,000 or so graduates of the Clark County Skills Center, celebrating 25 years on Saturday with public tours and a reunion bash, have touched a vast number of Southwest Washington lives.
They clean and fix our teeth. They handle our personal affairs in local banks, hospitals, medical clinics and nursing homes. They repair our cars, serve professional fleets and keep heavy equipment on the job. They've helped to construct thousands of homes and businesses.
And, not only do they cook and serve fine food, they manage restaurants, too.
That's the life goal of Miranda Blackburn, a Washougal High School senior who spends half-days in the culinary arts- restaurant management program at the bustling campus on Northeast 28th Street.
"I love being in the kitchen," said Blackburn, 18, now serving as sous-chef, or top chef's assistant. "I like being in a management role, and being in charge of people, working directly under the chef."
She'll ship out to the U.S. Marine Corps nine days after graduation in June. She plans to use college money from her military service to pay for a top-flight New York culinary school.
It wasn't what she had in mind when she began at the Skills Center a year ago. But her training has set her on a confident course. "It really shows you whether this is what you want to do for a career," she said.
Such clarity, and direction, was a chief objective when a consortium of local school districts opened the center in 1983. There were 377 students enrolled then, for a traditional slate of vocational-technical courses.
Today, 823 students -- juniors and seniors only -- come and go daily, splitting days between their home high school and the center. Most ride school buses, coming from as far as La Center and Ridgefield and east Portland's Parkrose School District, for three-hour shifts.
Class lectures, hands-on training in labs packed with sophisticated and often-donated equipment, and valuable apprenticeship service with local businesses give students a shot at professional certification, early college credits and a huge employment edge.
The evolving programs are a long way from some outdated view of "vo-tech" as a preserve for underachievers not likely to go to college. Biomedical science, criminal justice and legal medical training are among current options.
"Most people think that the students who are here are having a hard time making it somewhere else. That's not true," said Dennis Kampe, Skills Center director who has been on campus since its creation.
Skills Center students more than hold their own in grades and performance, Kampe said. About half of graduates go on to post-secondary education, about half that group heading for Clark College. Eight percent will attend a university, he said.
Sharpened focus
A few years ago, pressure from tighter high school math and science requirements and focus on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or WASL, posed a severe threat. Students compelled to earn more seat time in school found it increasingly hard to squeeze in Skills Center training.
In an affirmative response from area schools, the center was authorized to provide more core-curriculum math, reading and writing courses on campus, easing the scheduling crunch. A slight enrollment drop has already been reversed.
Skills Center leaders also placed strong emphasis on professionalism in all aspects of students' experience, in the classroom, the workshop or medical lab, or during an apprenticeship. Accountability and people skills have become linchpins, Kampe said.
As a result, employers hold center graduates in high regard, he said.
"Those professionalism skills are really in high demand out there," Kampe said. "That's what our students are known for. That's our hallmark."
Rewarding commute
In his first year in the center's automotive technology program, Dillon Davis fits the profile to a T.
"I get asked to go places to work; I don't have to ask people to get jobs," said Davis, 17, a junior at La Center High School. He's debating which job offer to accept, from a local Ford or Toyota dealership. It's a great step en route to running his own shop someday, he said.
Davis got an early start at home, where his hobby shattered the boredom, he said.
"I broke down cars, rode motorcycles, rebuilt engines. I already liked cars, already knew a lot about cars," he said. When a friend suggested the Skills Center, he jumped. "I was tired of sitting at a desk all day." His 45-minute school bus ride "is way worth it," he said. "I love it here."
It's a much shorter trip, but no less rewarding, for Clinton Johnson. The 18-year-old Evergreen High School senior just arrived last summer from tiny Arlington, Ore., where he had built a four-seat "sand rail" buggy at school.
This year has polished skills that earned him entry to an Arizona branch of the Universal Technical Institute. He'll train on auto, diesel and industrial-level vehicles.
"I'll be able to work on anything from a four-cylinder car to heavy equipment. It'll give me a wider variety," Johnson said. "I'll be more marketable."
That's the ultimate, ongoing mission Kampe and others have pursued for students for 25 years.
"When they leave here, they'll be ready to go to work," he said.
Vancouver, center join for apprenticeships
Skills Center officials on Thursday announced agreement with the city of Vancouver to create apprenticeship opportunities for new graduates that would culminate with a city job.
The center will partner with the city, state-city-municipal employees' union Local 307VC and Teamsters Local 58. The effort will provide training, education and work experience needed to earn state-certified journey-level worker status.
Center programs affected include construction, automotive and diesel technologies; electro-digital technology; legal-medical office applications; and pre-engineered design technology.
The Skills Center is owned and operated by all nine Clark County school districts and Educational Service District 112.
More information is available at 360-604-1050, and at www.cc-sc.com.
HOWARD BUCK can be reached at 360-735-4515 or howard.buck@columbian.com.
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Source: The Columbian
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