Like many U.S. schools working to expand college and career options for their students when they graduate, several El Paso County school districts have either adopted new Career and Technical Education programs or expanded their existing programs for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Calhan School District RJ-1 recently completed work on a new 14,000 square-foot addition to its CTE facilities, according to district superintendent Donovan Mitchell.

“We wanted to offer as much opportunity as possible for our students to test out what skills, interests or talents that they might not even know they have,” said Mitchell, a 2003 Calhan graduate.

“At the time I graduated, the sentiment as I understood it was that if you were graduating high school you should go on to college. I think we’ve come to realize that that’s not necessarily the case. Going to college right out of high school is not the path for everybody.”

In November 2022, Calhan voters said yes to a bond proposal of more than $7.5 million to expand and improve their CTE offerings.

The new facility includes metal and woodworking shops, space for agriculture and Future Farmers of America programs, and a Family and Consumer Science space with seven student workstations that include operational ovens and sinks.

“Our ultimate goal as a district is to set our students up for success after high school, and the path to success doesn’t always include college. If college is the path, then great. But for a lot of these students, it’s not. We believe our CTE facilities will give a lot of students a head start on a career without taking on a lot of stu- dent debt.”

Ellicott School District 22 will also open a new facility in August, district officials said. The vocational education building will feature a STEM room and culinary arts space.

“The culinary arts program is a new program that begins this school year,” said Ellicott representative Christina Vetromile.

The new building also offers space for its construction program, which operates in partnership with local nonprofit Careers in Construction and the Housing and Building Association of Colorado Springs.

The district has also partnered with local plumbers, pipefitters and HVAC technicians for pre-apprenticeship programs that teach students plumbing, welding and sheet metal fabrication skills.

District 49 will open its newly-completed CTE wing at Vista Ridge High School in the fall, according to spokesman David Nancarrow. The campus expansion will contain 18 classrooms and increase capacity by about 450 students.

The new facility is the latest addition to District 49’s burgeoning CTE programs, which are offered at six high schools and four middle schools, according to the district website. Offerings include agriculture, automotive service, web design, biomedical technology, business management, culinary arts, engineering and fashion design, officials said.

More and more students and families are exploring opportunities to pursue lucrative careers that don’t necessarily require a college degree, Mitchell said.

“We’re not discouraging college by any means if that’s the path you need to take to pursue the career you want,” he said. “But there are so many career paths that pay well and don’t require a college degree. We’re looking to expose our students to those opportunities.”