On an average school day, Federal Way students fly drones, extract their own DNA, do sheet metal fabrication and practice their landings with professional level flight simulators.

These activities and many more are part of Federal Way Public Schools’ Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes that focus on preparing students with practical skills for careers after high school.

82 total CTE courses are offered, and all classes offer the option for students to obtain at least one Industry Recognized Certificate (IRC) in that field as part of the course.

The district shared that “all of our CTE courses grades 7 through 12 integrate employable skills to support with college and career readiness. Work based learning activities like career research, guest speaker series, field trips, unpaid internships, etc. are also an integral component of CTE classes as well.”

The Mirror visited several CTE classrooms in January to see the innovations in career readiness firsthand.

Biomedical

In Cody Burton’s BioMed Engineering class at Todd Beamer High School on Jan. 24, students worked with clay in a partnership with the pottery class to model anatomically accurate hearts. To guide them, they used new 3D computers that allowed them to dissect hearts on the screen.

All this prep work will get them ready to dissect sheep hearts as part of their opportunity to explore and gain experience in the biomedical field.

Already this year, students in his class have lifted and analyzed fingerprints from a mock crime scene and will visit a morgue. Other students are working on practicing sutures for a career in surgery, or preparing to genetically alter the DNA of E. coli bacteria to make it glow green.

Burton said that growing up, it would have made a big difference in his life to have access to these type of programs in high school.

“I wasn’t doing that until my junior year of college,” Burton said of that last project.

Brandon Vazquez is only a freshman, but is already engaged in the Biotech curriculum. He has learned more about what it takes to follow his goal of becoming a firefighter, including learning that EMT training is required for the career.

Shastelin Frias Romo, who is in 10th grade, told the Mirror she is interested in focusing on nutrition or becoming a primary care physician. One of her inspirations comes from experiences going to the doctor with her grandparents, who speak Spanish. “I want to help people that don’t understand English,” Shastelin said.

Ula Maulolo is also in 10th grade and shared that she is interested in forensic science because she sees that role or being a medical examiner because she wants to “help give people closure.” Ula is planning to study the field in college and said she also wants to pursue it because she enjoys the field of science so much in general.

JROTC

Down the hall at Todd Beamer, Air Force JROTC students practiced for their first ever drone competition in February.

Competitors will be tested on their drone flying skills and their teamwork. This highlights some of the main goals of the JROTC program, according to Major Barry Jones and Sergeant Wayne Lott, who have led the program for decades.

Their focus is on creating good citizens, they said. This comes from building up confidence, responsibility and teamwork among other skills.

Several students say the JROTC program has helped them in a variety of ways.

Faith Vakasilimiratu said the class has helped her be more confident in asking questions in her other classes, not just this one.

Lasrie Naigulevu said that in JROTC, it’s “easy to build community,” and that even just wearing the uniform makes her feel like she is part of something and holds her to a higher standard. She said she also is involved in a lot more community service than she would have been otherwise, and is on a team where they go to middle and elementary schools to talk about topics like leadership and cyberbullying.

While the JROTC program is connected to the Air Force and many students shared goals of entering the military after high school, it is not a recruitment program, and students don’t have any obligation to pursue that career.

Automotive

At Decatur High School, students are also learning practical skills for the future in a revamped program that has been expanded and fine-tuned over the past several years.

The automotive program has been a staple there for a long time, but when Ryan Harris took over the program a few years ago, he said he wanted to make changes to align the skills more with specific industry needs to prepare students for future careers.

The program now has three tracks including heavy diesel, fabrication and automotive. He is in the process of creating work experience opportunities and certifications that will ensure students can enter into positions that pay a living wage in a career right out of high school.

Robotics

CTE classes start in 7th grade, like one class at Kilo Middle School, where students on one side of the classroom programmed robots, and on the other side, sat in flight simulators that actual pilots use to familiarize themselves with new routes.

As part of their emphasis on tech skills and career possibilities, FWPS is hosting their annual exploration night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. March 13 at Federal Way High School. Last year the event focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), but this year, the district is adding arts to the programming.

The district shared that “the annual STEM Exploration Night just received an upgrade and will now be known as STEAM Exploration Night — a much-anticipated improvement as we embrace the integral role of arts in fostering creativity and innovation within science, technology, engineering, and math. The inclusion of the ‘A’ in STEAM highlights the importance of design thinking, visual creativity, and problem-solving skills — essential elements in today’s interdisciplinary world.”

A student works on a project in the metal fabrication class at Decatur High School’s revamped automotive program. Photos by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror

Drones can be operated manually but can also be programmed to accomplish various tasks, like identifying colors. Here students at Todd Beamer in the Air Force ROTC program practice programming drones in preparation for an upcoming competition. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror

At Kilo Middle School, students are practicing their flight skills with advanced flight simulators that can allow them to experience various airports and weather conditions as they explore a future career as a pilot. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror

Two students at Kilo Middle School show off their robots that they are working on programming to circle a table and stop at a specific point. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror