TCTC honored for 3rd straight year

CHAMPION -- For the third year in a row, the Trumbull Career and Technical Center received the Apple Distinguished School Award.

The center is one of 728 schools across 36 countries that received this designation. The award will cover the years 2022 to 2025.

Paula Baco, TCTC director, said that during her 21 years at the center, she has seen the technology expand from iPads on carts to students each having their own laptops.

"Our teachers and the use of technology in their classrooms is the reason we get this recognition," she said.

Liz Meredith, representative from Apple, said, "The things I see when I come here clearly shows innovation. The Apple schools are pillars of innovation with educational excellence. It is you, the staff and the administrators, who put in that time and effort to use the technology to develop critical thinking and creativity with the students. You create engaging learning experiences for students and to support them not only when they are on campus but when they graduate and leave and enter the workforce in the real world."

Meredith said there is also a lot of behind the scenes work to make the use of technology in the classrooms possible. The designation of Apple Distinguished School helps in providing the local workforce with students skilled in use of newest technology and equipment.

"You are one of 689 schools worldwide to have this distinction and for the third consecutive time," she said.

Jason Gray, TCTC superintendent, said the students and staff continually are learning with the newest technology in the classrooms.

"Since 2011, the process began with implementing the iPads and the new technology. The staff is very passionate and always willing to do what is best for staff and students," Gray said.

Apple Distinguished Schools are centers of innovation, leadership, and educational excellence that use Apple products to inspire creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking, according to the award website.

VISITING CENTER

In other business, Baco reported that in early December, 12 representatives of the Platt County School District, which has Northland Career Center in Platt City, Mo., toured the center to learn more about the programs.

"We were one of four career centers that they visited. They were interested in our health care programs, such as dental assisting. They are planning to build a new school after getting money from the state and are raising some matching funds. They want to build their health care programs and don't have dental assisting," Baco said.

She said the visitors were also interested in the ROTC program, which they also do not have.

"We talked to them about some of the challenges of running that as a career tech program," she said.

Baco said the visiting center officials said their career center is located next to their high school and want to have an ROTC program available for students at both the high school and career center.

"They were also interested in our program with the ninth-graders in the Early Innovators Academy. They liked the idea of trying to help students earlier understand a variety of pathways," she said.

Baco said they had met the Missouri school officials at a conference last summer in Texas when each received the Gene Bottoms Pacesetters Award, presented by Making Schools Work to high performing career centers.

She said while the center has had many visitors from parts of Ohio, this was the farthest away to visit.

Baco said she and other TCTC officials have gone to other career centers in Ohio to see how their labs for programs are laid out.

bcoupland@tribtoday.com