Every year, students at West Albany High School who have completed three years of classes in 10 categories, Accounting, Business & Marketing, Child Development, Computer Science, Culinary Arts, Fine & Studio Arts, Fine Woodworking & Technology, Health Occupations, Media Arts & Communication, Video Technology, get an achievement for being “CTE” completers. Out of the numerous students who get this award, some can complete two of these pathways. There were four of these students this year: seniors Danielle Barron Arreola, Taylor Joynt, Richard Meeker, and Zhaine Raymundo.
Danielle Barron Arreola
Q: “What were the two CTE pathways that you completed?”
A: “They were the [Fine and studio arts] and child development.”
Q: What drew you to both of those pathways?
A: In middle school, I had Mrs. Wallace, who is our art teacher now, and I’ve always liked doing art, so I decided to start with that. My career path changed halfway through high school, and I started wanting to become an elementary school teacher. So I decided to complete my child development certification so it would look good on my transcript.
Q: Would you say that it was difficult to do both classes at the same time, or was it no problem?
A: It wasn’t too hard, but it was a lot of classes that I had to take in one year and one semester. So that was the difficult part about it, but I was able to balance them both out in some ways, and it turned out.
Taylor Joynt
Q: What were the two CTE pathways that you completed?
A: Wood shop and Child development
Q: What made you choose those classes
A: Child development because I want to be an elementary school teacher in the future, and wood shop because I took the CTE class and thought that it was really fun
Q: Was it difficult to do both of them
A: No, they are two very easy classes. I didn’t have any trouble whatsoever
Q: Do you think that taking Child Development helped you start to prepare for being a teacher?
A: One hundred thousand million percent. It teaches you throughout the four classes, you learn about the development of kids and why they do what they do, and then you also get experience working in the preschool.
Richard Meeker
Q: What were the two CTE pathways that you completed?
A: Child development and Media Arts & Communication
Q: What made you choose to complete two CTE programs?
A: For child development ironically I got stuck in the CTE rotation twice due to a screw up in the schools system so I got back to back child development CTE classes so that is how I ended up staying there and then I just did it for four years and this year I actually won the award award for it and I got completion for yearbook because sophomore year Zhaine convinced me to join staff and I did it for three years and I got the CTE completion for it
Zhaine Raymundo
Q: What were the two CTE pathways that you completed
A: I completed the Culinary CTE and the media fine arts, specifically for yearbook
Q: What was it like completing two different CTE pathways?
A: It was pretty fun I mean I doubled up on my science classes so that I would have more time to complete these two and have more time for electives my junior year I really piled up on my electives so that i could complete them and then my senior year, I changed one of my opens to be a culinary practicum which is were i help teach the culinary class which was pretty fun. I really enjoyed it, it fit my schedule really well, it’s things I enjoy doing, and yearbook I had been doing since middle school, and I really wanted to do that again, and so I started my sophomore year and kept going all the way up until my senior year.
Q: What made you choose culinary?
A: I’ve always had a passion for food it’s one of my love languages and I personally have always had a wish for the future that I could open up my own place open up a bakery or a Filipino restaurant here in town I’ve always just enjoyed cooking its very comforting to me I enjoy being in commercial kitchens just because I like the environment and all the people in there are always supper fun.
