Dr. Megan Drummond
Appearances
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
They are very, very on board. They are constantly making sure that students are coming in and shadowing. And if we have events, making sure that those are promoted at our sending high schools. So just that students know and that there's awareness.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
Ooh, so I would say probably hands down, this may or may not surprise you, but our welding program. Every single year, we have a gigantic wait list of students. And I think that that's just due to the allure of the industry itself and also just the ability to have a really high-paying job straight out of high school with no college debt is, I think, very appealing to a lot of our students today.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
I would also say our health sciences program, and that probably comes as no surprise because we need healthcare professionals.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
The main thing that we're hearing is that, like skilled trades especially, those are a lot of kids that maybe they don't want to go to college, and that's totally fine.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
They want to be able to have that flexibility, though, and use their two-year training that they've had with Northland Career Center to go out somewhere, work hard, be successful, and make a really good living and support their family.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
I mean, career and technical schools have been around for a hot minute. That necessarily isn't a new or revolutionary idea. But I think when I was in high school, it was you need to go to college or you're not going to be successful. And that's just not true. I mean, some of our students that leave Northland Career Center, they have zero student debt and they're making more money than I do.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
straight out of high school, because sealed trays jobs are never going to go away. Like our healthcare and health sciences students, they're always going to be needed in the industry. Police officers, they're always going to be needed. So all of these programs are very relevant to things that we directly need in our community.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
And I think that's what our school at the core is doing, is trying to prepare our students to be productive members of our community and of our society. And I think that that's why we're successful as we are is because of that additional preparation that we offer for our kids.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
Well, my name is Dr. Megan Drummond. I'm the assistant director of Northland Career Center in the Platt County School District in Platt City, Missouri.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
We are a career and technical center for juniors and seniors in high school. We have what we call like our human services programs and our skilled trades programs. We kind of have two different like umbrellas that a lot of our classes fall under here. Your human services are going to be things like health sciences, culinary arts, law enforcement, teaching professions, things like that.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
Skilled trades are going to be kind of what you traditionally think are welding, diesel technology, construction, HVAC, things like that that are specialized. your more traditional skilled trades.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
So students that might be interested in shadowing would shadow their sophomore or junior year of high school to then be admitted for the following school year.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
Each of our programs, they have industry certifications that are tied to those programs. Sometimes age can be a factor, but to prepare for those different exams, what they're doing is practicing their skills out in the shop. For our teaching professions program, they actually go out into surrounding elementary schools in our area and
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
And they're interning and they're acting as a student teacher in a way. But we try and give students as much real-world experience as possible through the coursework they're doing in class as well as through internship opportunities actually in the industry, whatever industry they've decided on. Give them those real-world experiences.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
For our students specifically, they spend half of our day with us and then they still spend half of their day at their sending high school. So oftentimes if they're sending high school, they're getting those traditional classes that you think of. They're getting calculus. They're getting P.E. They're getting their health class. They're getting English, things like that.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
When they are with us for two and a half hours out of their school day, they are, of course, getting their... their technical education, whatever that looks like in their program. But then we also offer a embedded math and English. And what's kind of unique about what we do is that our math and English is specifically tailored to for whatever program they're in.
Today, Explained
What if college isn't for everyone?
So if you are in our health sciences program, your math may look like, you know, converting CCs to milliliters. In construction, their math may be very geometry heavy. In health sciences, you may have to be typing up and writing about patient care and what happened to the patient this morning, and they're practicing those skills that they're gonna need to have in industry.