February is Careers in Technical Education (CTE) Month, and students at East Haven High School (EHHS) are the first secondary students in the shoreline region to participate in new programming geared towards learning trade and technical skills.

Assistant Principal Amy Farotti said the goal of CTE programming is to create internship programs with several local businesses looking for new, young employees, as is a suitable objective for a “manufacturing hub” like East Haven.

“We want to showcase what we are doing here to local businesses so that they can say, ‘Oh, I can use a student who knows how to do that,’ and then we bridge a nice internship, and hopefully a career for them,” Farotti said.

The CTE programming planning process started in the spring of 2021 when the school began looking for technology for its advanced manufacturing course. Its integration into EHHS’s curriculum was kicked off at a “Let’s Connect” event at EHHS on Dec. 15, 2022, which showcased the school’s newly acquired manufacturing units in its spacious classroom.

CTE programming at EHHS follows in the footsteps of initiatives at several state colleges and universities that have received grants from the Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy and the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, as a way to boost the competitiveness of higher education institutions and meet the growing demand for tech skills, according to the Office of Governor Ned Lamont. Regional schools that have received those grants include Quinnipiac University and the University of New Haven.

Farotti recognized the growing demand for a skillful workforce in trade and technical careers and pushed for training in those fields, including in advanced manufacturing, to be brought to EHHS.

“I’m learning more and more that there are also hundreds of small manufacturing companies in the state, and there’s just not enough workers,” Farotti said. “There’s not enough people to run these high-tech machines. We know this is a new career path that is in high demand, and we know it would help any student, whether they go to college or don’t go to college, have a much more successful future.”

Examples of CTE courses include automotive, woodworking, digital media, and integrated coursework in advanced manufacturing, where students learn a plurality of coding languages with the newly installed technology. A program is also available for students to become certified nursing assistants, allowing them to “get a job or go straight to nursing school with that,” said Farotti, adding that the school is engaged in dialogue with other business owners in partnering with the school’s programs and setting up internships.

In light of the interconnectivity between programming and businesses, programming assumes a more occupational approach, epitomized by its culinary courses. Rather than simply learning to cook a specific type of food, students learn about restaurant-style hospitality in its various aspects, from precise cooking techniques to establishing an atmosphere in a room with a café set-up.

“Our chefs have actually took (sic) the program and moved it in a different direction - where it used to be a kid went down [to the kitchen] and made themselves a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, now it’s a production,” Farotti said.

This would entail catering a meal for senior students as an assignment, as students cook an aesthetically-pleasing meal at a table with perfectly-placed silverware and a candle in the center. Leading the culinary department is a married duo of chefs who formerly owned the Rainbow Gardens restaurant in Milford.

“It’s not just make-and-eat, whereas they’re making food to sell or to cater. It’s not just making chocolate chip cookies every day,” said Farotti. [The chefs] came from industry, so they’re giving the kids not just cooking skills, but business skills.”

Schulz Electric has been particularly eager to collaborate with EHHS’ gearheads, who were able to provide a grant to the school through their parent company Timkin for the purchase of an industrial hexagon metrology arm for electric motor engineering education. The use of the authentic arm provides another example of preparedness for students who may follow a career path relative to the program.

Farotti pointed out that one of the benefits of the new programming is how it can construct that early foundation of preparedness for students, whether they are interested in post-secondary education or ready to head straight into the workforce with the necessary skills and knowledge for a promising future.

“They know that the skills that we’re providing [for] them here, they’re going to enter a very well-paying job, so that has to be very enticing for a student who’s not interested in higher education, but wants a career,” Farotti said. “We want kids to leave here, find something you’re passionate about, and if that means going back to school, you go back to school, and then you continue on."