Two seniors at Marshwood High School gave the district school board and administrators a picture of their experiences in two of the career preparatory programs available in the school system.
During the meeting of the MSAD 35 Board of Directors April 15, Riley Smith and Rogan Boisvert described their non-traditonal educational journeys while enrolled at Marshwood.
Smith, a senior at Sanford Regional Technical Center where she is president of the center’s SkillsUSA chapter, talked about the 104 students from the regional center who participated in March in the SkillsUSA Maine State Leadership and Skills Conference at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor.
Marshwood is among several York County school districts served by the Sanford center, which offers vocational and technical classes in fields including digital design, early childhood education, firefighting, and various medical technologies, among others.
Smith was among more than 1,000 career and technical education students from across Maine in 92 trade, technical and leadership fields who competed in hands-on challenges at the skills conference, according to the Maine SkillsUSA website. Winners can advance to national competitions where scholarships are awarded to top performers.
A digital design student, Smith said attending the conference was especially inspiring because it provided opportunities to meet students from across the state who engage in hands-on learning in various fields.
She also highlighted the benefits of leading the school’s SkillsUSA chapter – developing public speaking abilities, learning parliamentary procedures, and gaining other leadership skills.
Smith’s teacher, Tim Fecteau, who accompanied her to the board meeting, praised her leadership, noting she had helped the SkillsUSA chapter move forward during her presidency.
“They have really come together under her leadership,” Fecteau said, “and you have just seen her speaking and presentation skills.”
Boisvert talked about participating in Marshwood’s Extended Learning Opportunity program, which gives students the chance to earn high school credits for learning outside the traditional classroom.
These students may be involved in independent learning, job shadowing, volunteering, work study, or field-based service learning, according to ELO program director Rob Scully.
Boisvert, who plans to study finance in college, job shadows twice a week for two-hour sessions at a financial firm in Portsmouth, where he’s learning about investing, financial management and Artificial Intelligence.
“My manager always has an assignment for me,” Boisvert said, noting he has even learned about the process of private credit loans from an investor. “I know my experience will be a big help when I get to college.”
Scully said 49 students have signed up to participate with local partners in the ELO program next year. Students in the program also learn resume writing skills and undergo mock interviews, he said.
