We are excited to highlight the Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs at the Jewell School, where students are actively building real-world skills through hands-on agriculture and construction courses. From planting on-campus orchards and cooking farm-to-table meals to fabricating custom bookshelves and library benches, these programs provide students with tangible experiences and a profound sense of pride in their work. With Oregon CTE participants boasting a 98% four-year graduation rate—about 16 points higher than the state average—this showcase underscores the vital role that applied learning plays in driving student engagement and success across our region.

Read more about Jewell's program on this article.

When you step into the classroom and shop space of Gaston’s Greyhound Design and Manufacturing Program, it feels less like a traditional high school class and more like a fully operating print and fabrication business. As 20 Gaston High School students arrive for the day, the skills, leadership, and confidence they have developed over the past four months quickly become apparent. Students participate in every stage of production, including project proposal development, design using Rhino 3D modeling software, printing, metal fabrication, woodworking, powder coating, sales promotion, and basic accounting. Products are available for purchase through the school’s online store, and the program also accepts custom orders.

Read more about Gaston's CTE Academy here.

Warrenton High School has a robust graphic design program allowing students to drive and lead community projects. In the video, hear from 

Brian Vollner (CTE Teacher), Bev Scott (Principal), and Addie (sophomore student) describe their work with the Clatsop Care Memory Community. The Clatsop Care Memory Community has patients with dementia and Alzheimer's. To prevent patients from getting lost in the building, students identified "anchor points" to help provide visual cues for patient location. 

Tillamook High School has an agriculture science and industrial technology program which includes animal science, plant science, leadership, business, and mechanics.

Watch as Jesse Gomez, a student at THS, taught a peer how to weld for the first time! Additionally, you can watch Cody and Derek show off a drag car. Cody explains the work completed on a Ford Mustang including the rebuild of a motor, welding, and sheet metal building. Jesse shared he is planning to attend a "hot rod school" after graduation. 

Later in the video, Derek describes his experience in class "I'm not a big sit down person - I like getting my hands on stuff and learning new skills is a big thing for me. [It's] definitely so much fun trying to get under here (the Ford Mustang). I do as much as I can - and learn way more talents than I would at home."

During the video, you also hear from the agricultural CTE teacher Hayden Bush, "We can touch a lot of lives of a lot of students but it's still all based around the principles, the ideals, and the responsibilities that fall within the agricultural industrial technology fields. [I] equip students with at least some skills to succeed in no matter what they chose after high school."

Seaside High School has a CTE culinary program ran by CTE Teacher Chelsea Archibald. The high school has a commercial kitchen with industry tools and appliances for students to cook their own culinary creations. Chelsea shares her main goal in this CTE program is "to get them (students) more comfortable in the kitchen, more comfortable using a knife, more comfortable with different ingredients...and to get them more familiar with how to feed themselves for the rest of their life." The CTE program includes culinary fundamentals, advanced culinary, and a WBL opportunity via Gulls Grub. In Gulls Grub, students make meals to sell during lunch and various school events.

In this video, McKenna (a Junior from Seaside High) recalls her favorite meal made in class. "We made pasta from scratch - we made the noodles and then the sauce and that was really fun." As students make their ramen, Alauna and Bailey share their experience and the excitement of trying their homemade meal regardless of the mistakes they made during their creation.

Clatskanie Middle/High School offers CTE programs featuring heavy equipment and forestry focused courses. In this video, CTE Teacher, Deney Flatz, describes his CTE program. 

As a logging community, Clatskanie serves as a home to many lumber mills. Deney Flatz regularly collaborates with the local lumber-related companies to ensure students have consistent contact with the industry.

One key component of the forestry-tracked CTE path includes a wood production program. In this project, students learn to use a mobile dimension mill and chop firewood to sell. Milled wood can also find it's way to the wood shop class taught by Tim Kamppi. In this instance, students are able to see a raw product (log) manufactured to a finished project.

Astoria High School features a 2-year natural resources program of study for fisheries technology. In this program, students learn the science behind fisheries in order to run and operate a student-led fishery. Recently, the class launched "teacher tanks" for classrooms. In this project, the fishery tech students clean and maintain the fish tanks.

The CTE teacher, Lee Cain, has industry connections with state hatchery biologists reporting a shortage of workers in their industry. Lee Cain also provides industry learning connections by facilitating collaborations between students and mentors from Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, Clatsop Community College, and the private sector.

Nestucca High School features natural resources program of study for agricultural sciences. In the 2 year program, students gain experiencing with computer aided-design, fabrication, welding, and more. Aaron Pearn, program CTE teacher, currently operates two shop classes plus engineering, and an auto-CAD class. 

In addition to the agricultural sciences program, students can also work in the "Bike Shop" to learn how to repair bicycles including framework and design. In this class, students are able to bring their own bicycles to work on. 

Both programs take place in the newly built (2023) Nestucca Valley CTE Center, 17,174 sq. ft.

At Neah-Kah-Nie high school, the CTE natural resources program is led by teacher, Steve Albrechsten. The program inlucdes natural resource science, forestry, biology, and Future Natural Resource Leaders (FNRL) events. 

This video features a preview of a Neah-Kah-Nie FNRL home meet. The event includes activities such as axe throwing, spur climbing, arbor climbing, log roll choking, tree identification, and log cross cutting. 

This CTE program is a benefit to Neah-Kah-Nie students because Tillamook county is roughly 90 percent forest. Opportunities closely connected with the county needs provides students with the opportunity to develop forestry skills before exiting high school. During their time in the program, students have the opportunity to connect with industry mentors such as local emergency responders, forest product companies, and the Oregon State Department of Forestry.

Working Lands Day was hosted at Tillamook High School in November 2022. Many local companies gathered to talk to students about their work. Companies include: Weyerhaeuser, Hampton Lumber, Jacobson Salt Co., Trask Fish Hatchery, and more. 

Warrenton High School's CTE programs are small BUT mighty! Our staff stopped by to tour the Fish Hatchery program but stayed to learn about the many other established CTE programs (and those in development.) From the impressive auto and welding shop with a STEM maker space, to the developments in digital and 3D art - it was exciting to see so many CTE options for a smaller school in our region.