Do you ever wonder how donating to the Denver Public Schools Foundation makes a difference? The DPS Foundation helps fund numerous programs to better the lives of Denver’s students. Why should you give? Check out just one of the many programs the DPS Foundation funds that helps Every Child Succeed — Career and Technical Education (CTE).
Denver Public Schools is working to improve how we’re preparing students for college and career. By implementing a pipeline of CTE pathways, DPS is preparing our future leaders for the very jobs that are in highest demand in Denver – ensuring that we are strengthening our city and our students’ futures. In April 2014, DPS was chosen as one of 24 organizations nationwide to receive a four-year grant to enhance career-focused pathways in STEM. How does this help DPS students? Research shows that students engaged in a CTE pathway hav
e up a 30 percent greater likelihood of graduating high school than their counterparts.
Students like Jacob Gutierrez at Abraham Lincoln High School are experiencing the benefits of CTE. What is impressive about Jacob is that as a junior, he already knows what he wants to do with his future. Through guided mentorships with his Career Coach, a staff member of the DPS Department of Technology Services, Jacob learned what he is interested in and already has plans set for how to achieve his goals. Jacob’s sophomore year, he and his classmates were given the opportunity to have a career coach that they would get to meet one-on-one with every week. Each coach would discuss with the students their interests and help show them different career paths they might enjoy. In one class Jacob was able to experience how to type up code, make games in class from scratch, he realized it was something that he would like to do. He talked with his mentor about it and discussed the types of jobs that he would enjoy.
He is currently taking a multi-media class where he learns about various computer programs and how to utilize them. This class has opened his eyes to the world of technology and all that it has to offer. Jacob’s plan is to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder or the Colorado School of Mines, and he’d like to study software engineering.
When thinking about how DPS has helped him better reach his future goals, Jacob says that his teachers have driven him and helped him create a plan for his future by looking at various options. This has given him direction that he likely would not have had. Jacob’s family supports his involvement in the CTE program and would love if he could attend college after high school. Jacob said “I would be the first one in my family to graduate from college. They want me to not have to work as hard as my dad has had to, so I will have more time at home with my family in the future.”
A
nother student, Theresa Nguyen, a sophomore from John F. Kennedy High School, says that without CTE she would not already know what she wants to do with her future. In eighth grade, Theresa and her classmates were able to enroll in elective classes that were of interest to them. Growing up, she and her brother had always enjoyed building things, such as Legos, so she thought engineering would be an interesting subject. Engineering was fun and came easily to Theresa, thanks to her love of math and science. Now, thanks to CTE, Theresa has had the opportunity to take Introduction to engineering her freshman year, where they learned about the different types of engineering and what types of job pathways could be of interest. Theresa is now is studying Principals of Engineering, where they get to take their basic knowledge a step further by creating various projects.
The CTE program gave Theresa the opportunity to job shadow, where she could see what a day in the life of an engineer is all about. Theresa and other classmates were also given the opportunity to go to Colorado State University for a weeklong engineering program over the summer, where she got to take college level courses and meet with students, engineers, and professors who made the world of engineering seem so much more real. Being able to take part in real life experiences has dramatically shaped how Theresa looks at her future. When she was a child, her parents talked about how she should be a doctor. Theresa is sure that without having opportunities to see what else is out there, she might have gone down a very different career path. Now, with her parents’ full support, Theresa is excelling at a young age and working toward a career path that she is truly passionate about. Although only a sophomore, her opportunities at DPS have given her the skillset needed to begin planning her future. Theresa volunteers with Key Club in her free time, is a part of a 3D Printing Club, plays tennis, and is active in ROTC. She hopes to use her ROTC participation and knowledge of engineering to go to Air Force Academy where she would like to study to be a civil engineer.
Not only has the CTE program opened Theresa’s eyes to engineering, she has also ha
d the support of fabulous DPS teachers along the way. Her Engineering teacher, Ms. Wolff, has taught her the importance of never giving up while also encouraging her to find creative solutions to problems that are difficult to solve. Theresa said, “Learning how to stick with it in my engineering class has helped me continue to work hard in other classes as well. It’s not always easy, things get hard. Sometimes things just take time and hard work.” Theresa loves that at DPS, teachers and admin staff work tirelessly to ensure the best for each student. Thanks to Ms. Wolff working outside of her regular hours, Theresa and 10 other students get to participate in the school’s 3D Printing Club, where they get to use what skills they learn in their engineering classes to build 3D models with the printer, which is not only a huge learning experience, but also Theresa shared is “a lot of fun!”
Help give students the chance to find out how bright their future can be. Make a difference in the lives of our next generation’s leaders. Give today.