(Facebook Community Development Regional Manager William Marks accepts a note from a VEX Robot containing the announcement of a $200,000 Facebook grant. With him are Crook County School District Superintendent Dr. Sara Johnson and Facebook Data Center Site Manager Andrew Gold | Photo courtesy of Crook County School District & Olive and Blue Photography)
Crook County School District has announced the launch of expanded Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs for high school students. Facebook provided a grant of $200,000 to the district to help fund a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) lab and seven CTE/STEM programs (Agriculture Science, Graphic Design, Business Management, Culinary Arts, Health Science, Manufacturing and Technology and Natural Resource Management).
Housed at Crook County High School, the CTE programs are available to all 900 students at Crook County and Pioneer high schools. This year, about 700 students will be participating in the programs.
The programs were unveiled at a special ribbon-cutting event at the new STEM lab at Crook County High School with remarks by Dr. Sara Johnson, superintendent, Crook County School District; State Representative Vikki Breese-Iverson; William Marks, Facebook Community Development regional manager; Michelle Jonas, principal, Crook County High School; Scott Cooper, Crook County School District Board chair, and Lisa Dobey, East Cascades Works Board chair.
“Career & Technical Education programs are in high demand as the need for skilled trade workers grows throughout the country — especially here in rural America — and so we identified this as a critical need for our students. With an emphasis on real-world, real-life skills, these dynamic and comprehensive programs connect students to academics and training that will help them be successful in the future,” said Dr. Sara Johnson, Crook County School District Superintendent.
“Each CTE strand is unique, yet they all offer a rigorous sequence of courses, beginning with foundational skills and ending in subject-matter mastery. Each strand provides hands-on experiences in the classroom led by dedicated educators and meaningful, work-based experiences facilitated by industry partners. We are thrilled to be implementing the expansion of programs starting this fall and are deeply grateful to Facebook for their incredible support,” Dr. Johnson continued.
Crook County School District has partnered with East Cascades Works, a nonprofit that supports workforce development in Central Oregon, to act as fiscal receiver for the funds and provide guidance, expertise and mentorship to the district.
“Career & Technical Education programs are incredibly important for the students of today to be career and college-ready, and we’re proud to help Crook County School District students gain real-world, real-life CTE and STEM skills that will help them be successful in the future,” said William Marks, Facebook Community Development Regional Manager.
“Facebook is committed to playing a positive role and investing in the long-term vitality of Prineville, and we’re excited to see these robust CTE programs come to life for these high schoolers,” he continued. Facebook broke ground on its first wholly owned data center in the world in Prineville in 2010, which today supports more than 350 jobs. The energy-efficient data center is a more than 3 million-square-foot campus.
