CTE students recognized by AISD board

By John Dilmore
john@casscountynow.com

Students participating in Atlanta High School’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs took center stage during last week’s meeting of the Atlanta Independent School District Board of Trustees’ meeting.
The high school’s CTE program offers classes in a variety of areas – but students from the Robotics class, Certified Nursing Assistant class and Pharmacy Tech class took center stage during last week’s gathering at the AISD administration office.
Prior to the students’ presentations, a short video describing the CTE program was played and AHS principal Nancy Rinehart listed some recent program highlights.
“We did qualify three to go to the international competition in DECA again this year, so they’ll be going out to California,” Rinehart said. 
“The Ag and Mechanics, this year we’ve started something new,” she continued. “Instead of sending kids to Texarkana College for the welding, we are offering it on our campus. They’ll take the welding here at the high school, and they can come out with a certification if they can take it for two years. It’s a dual credit thing with Texarkana College. We’re working in conjunction with them.”
Students Hunter Belk and Cody Pilkington from the Robotics class then offered a demonstration of one of their projects; and Deila Kerns, Kylee Belk and Starr Davis from the CNA class, along with Amanda Dickerson from the Pharmacy Tech class, described some of the things they’ve learned from their respective coursework. The CTE coursework is aimed at preparing students for high-wage, high-demand careers across a number of fields.
Also last week, the board hired Brandon Prince as director of technology, and introduced Charles McDuffie as School Resource Officer.