Over 40 years ago, when dis?cus?sions for the Lorain County Joint Voca?tional School began, it?s doubt?ful any?one ever imag?ined the school would become what it is?today.
As the school cel?e?brates its 40th school year, it has turned the cor?ner from being just a voca?tional school and has become much more. Today the school has become a career cen?ter where not only high school stu?dents come to build for their future, but one that adults turn to as the job mar?ket shifts to more high-tech jobs.
In 1969, William Bur?ton, the school?s first super?in?ten?dent, pur?chased 131 acres for $75,000 from a local farmer, Clarence Stevens. Accord?ing to Tina Salyer, mar?ket?ing and com?mu?ni?ca?tions coor?di?na?tor at Lorain County JVS, it is rumored that the deal was done on a nap?kin at Presti?s restau?rant, in Oberlin.
When the five char?ter school dis?tricts ? Amherst, Fire?lands, Key?stone, Ober?lin, and Welling?ton ? came together to form the JVS dis?trict, 320 stu?dents enrolled to attend the school. Today, 13 school dis?tricts now make up the JVS and 2,000 stu?dents take advan?tage of the oppor?tu?nity to choose a career-technical pathway.
The first cur?ricu?lum approved by the JVS school board con?sisted of 16 pro?grams: agri?cul?ture busi?ness, agri?cul?ture mechan?ics, auto body repair, auto mechan?ics, clerk typ?ist, cos?me?tol?ogy, data account?ing, dis?trib?u?tive edu?ca?tion, diver?si?fied coop?er?a?tive train?ing, draft?ing, food ser?vice, high skill stenog?ra?pher, indus?trial elec?tric?ity, machine trades, occu?pa?tional work expe?ri?ence, and welding.
For years, the school was viewed by many to be a place where only stu?dents who were strug?gling with school and had no plans to attend col?lege would go. Today, many grad?u?ates from the school use the job skills they have learned to pay for advanced train?ing and college.
Data now shows that 89 per?cent of stu?dents are employed or pur?su?ing higher edu?ca?tion six months after graduation.
In the 1990s most joint voca?tional schools began to shift toward becom?ing known as career cen?ters, in part, to break away from the stigma sur?round?ing voca?tional schools, but also because the schools were offer?ing more than just a cer?tifi?cate of course com?ple?tion. Today, when JVS stu?dents grad?u?ate, they do so with indus?try stan?dard cer?ti?fi?ca?tions such as ASE and NATEF for auto mechan?ics and Microsoft and Cisco cer?ti?fi?ca?tions in the infor?ma?tion tech?nol?ogy pro?grams, mak?ing them much more attrac?tive in the job market.
?It?s really not your father?s voca?tional school any?more,? said Salyer.
Ask Salyer about some of the school?s suc?cess sto?ries, and she could go on for days talk?ing about stu?dents like Tiffany Barnes, who grad?u?ated from the JVS in 2005 from auto tech?nol?ogy and now works as a jour?ney?man iron?worker in Cleve?land, or James Collins, class of 1978 from the mar?ket?ing and man?age?ment pro?gram, who now is vice pres?i?dent and gen?eral man?ager for McDonald?s Corporation?s Florida region.
One of her favorites is of Greg Mezey, who took culi?nary arts and grad?u?ated in 2005. Mezey then went on to grad?u?ate from Cor?nell Uni?ver?sity in 2009 and now works as direc?tor of food and bev?er?age at the Statler Hotel in Ithaca, N.Y.
?I believe Greg is the first of our stu?dents who was an ivy lea?guer,? Salyer said.
The JVS con?tin?ues to look for ways to improve and help stu?dents build for their future. The school has part?nered with many of its mem?ber school dis?tricts to offer ninth and 10th graders pro?grams that allow them to begin their train?ing dur?ing their fresh?man and sopho?more years of high school, con?tinue their train?ing at the JVS, and fur?ther build upon it by attend?ing Lorain County Com?mu?nity College.
Look?ing back over the past 40 years of the school?s his?tory, it?s hard not to won?der what the next 40 will?bring.
Source: http://thewellingtonenterprise.com/current-news/vocational-school-marks-40th/
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