February marks National Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month. This year’s theme is “Opportunities for Career Success,” and the CTE program in Charlotte County continues to be an active participant in the mission of preparing students for career success beyond high school.

The Charlotte County CTE program consists of five program areas representing 10 of the 16 Career Clusters recognized by the Virginia Department of Education. The Agricultural Education program, in which students take classes ranging from Horticulture and Landscaping to Agriculture Management and Agriculture Mechanics, is led by Dave Richmond, Jim Pugh, Bruce Cumbie and Bethanne Metts. 

The Trade and Industrial Arts program, which includes both Carpentry and Design Technology courses, is led by John Hunter and Claudia McMillan, while the Business and Information Technology program, which includes courses ranging from Business Administration and Management to Information Technology and Design, Multimedia and Web Technologies, is led by Sherri Pillow, Karen Osborne and Sheena Allen.

Two program areas have a single instructor each. Rhonda Benn leads the Family and Consumer Sciences area and teaches both the Interior Design pathway as well as Jobs for Virginia Graduates (JVG) while   Nikki Elder leads the Health and Medical Sciences program, which feeds directly into the SVCC nursing program.

Several of the programs of study at Randolph-Henry High School include dual-enrollment programs through Southside Virginia Community College. These include Agriculture Management, Criminal Justice, welding, EMT, automotive technologies and nursing.

In addition to taking courses, students are able to earn nationally-recognized industry certifications to help validate to the business community their skills in specific areas. Students currently have the opportunity earn certifications in Microsoft Office specialties (MOS), AWS SENSE I welding, internet and computing core (IC3), workplace readiness skills (WRS), career readiness certification (CRC), W!SE financial literacy, NOCTI basic accounting, Adobe visual communications, NNAAP nurse aide, EMT national registry exam, and private pesticide application.

Thanks to the hard work of the CTE faculty, the continued support of the division’s administration, and the strong support and participation of business and community organizations, the Charlotte County Public Schools’ CTE program has had a long history of successfully preparing students for the future. Last year, alone, the program served 510 students in grades 8-12, had 268 industry certifications earned, and had 132 seniors who completed a CTE concentration sequence and plans continue to keep the program responsive to the needs of the students