The new 13,000-sq.-ft. Pamela Mari Da Vinci Tech Hub will be the focal point of Da Vinci Charter High School’s Computer Science program.


Building the Perfect Classroom, for Today’s Workforce – It’s as Easy as CTE


How career and technical education- specific classrooms are key to making sure today’s students are really ready to enter the workforce


BY ALLISON OTTO, PRESIDENT AND CEO, OTTO CONSTRUCTION B 24


uild a classroom for now, right now. If you think about it, ask your- self to describe a classroom. You’d


most likely say it consists of four walls, a roof, some heating and air conditioning and a bunch of desks. Put the teacher in front of his or her students, and there you


CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR JULY-AUGUST 2022


have it, your typical classroom. But that’s all changing. Enter career and technical education (CTE). While the concept isn’t new, the focus should be renewed. No longer do students think in just four-year bachelor’s degrees. For a whole host of reasons,


a four-year college program just isn’t feasible for everybody. Look at where you get your car fixed


and where you go to the dentist’s office. Tose careers don’t require a four-year degree. So how do you attract a workforce if students don’t even know those oppor- tunities are out there? Many students want to work with their hands and provide a service that doesn’t necessarily require a college degree. Te problem is the classroom of old no longer works. There is not enough room for students to “tinker.” How can we expect a carpenter to know how to build the stuff we need, if they don’t even have room to fit a table saw into their classroom to learn the basics?


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