Career Technical Education (CTE)
Career and Technical Education
Career and Technical Education (CTE) in Catawba County Schools connects learning to real-world opportunity. Our program is designed to help students explore their interests, discover their strengths, and see how classroom learning translates into meaningful careers. Through engaging, high-quality pathways, students gain hands-on experiences, industry knowledge, and skills that prepare them for college, careers, and life beyond graduation. Whether students are just beginning to explore their options or ready to dive into a career pathway, CTE opens doors to possibilities—and it all starts here.
NEW! Internship applications are open for students to apply for Summer 2026 or during the 2026/2027 school year. Students must apply in order to be considered for this amazing opportunity. You may find the applications below. For options that we offer our students, please view the CCS Internship Opportunities document.
Career Connections Hub
The Career Connections Hub is your starting point for exploring careers, pathways, and real-world opportunities. This space brings together tools, resources, and experiences designed to help students make informed decisions about their future. Click through the sections below to discover pathways, build career awareness, and connect learning to life beyond the classroom. Have questions, reach out to your Career Development Coordinator today.
Catawba County Schools offers many Career & Technical Education (CTE) pathways to help you explore careers and discover what you enjoy. Because each school offers different pathways, you can learn more about all options by checking out our CTE Curriculum Guide. Click the button below to see what pathways are available at each school and find out which careers and skills you could pursue!
Discover Your Interests
Choosing a career can feel overwhelming, but understanding your interests is a great place to start. The NCCareers.org website provides free tools to help students explore careers that match their strengths, interests, and skills. By completing a short career interest inventory, you can learn about careers that might be a good fit for you and the education or training those careers require.
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Watch How to get Started
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Get Started in 4 Easy Steps
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What You will Learn
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Careers that match your interests
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Skills needed for different career fields
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Education or training required
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Possible salary ranges and job outlook
Explore Your Interests
➡ Take the Career Interest Inventory on NCCareers.org
(Link button to the NCCareers.org interest profiler page.)
Need Help?
If you have questions or would like help understanding your results, contact your Career Development Coordinator (CDC).
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Connecting Students to Careers. Building the Workforce of Tomorrow.
Catawba County Schools is committed to preparing students for success beyond the classroom. Through our Work-Based Learning (WBL) program, students gain hands-on experience, real-world skills, and valuable career connections — all while earning high school credit and exploring future pathways.
Our WBL program includes two major opportunities: Job Shadowing and Internships. Each experience is designed to help students connect classroom learning with career goals while developing the confidence and professionalism needed to thrive in today’s workforce.
Students who are interested in participating in these programs should sign up for classes during registration and meet with their Career Development Coordinator.
NEW 2026-2027 Applications are Open!
Apply Below
Click on the button below to apply today!
Summer 2026 Application (Rising 9th-12th Graders)
2026/2027 Semester Internship Application (Rising 11th & 12th Graders)
Questions? Ask for you school’s Career Development Coordinator for more information.
CTE Credentials & Certifications
Our Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs help students gain real-world skills and recognized credentials that prepare them for college, careers, and beyond. Earning these certifications gives students a competitive edge and validates their expertise in their chosen pathway.
Example State & National Credentials
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North Carolina WorkKeys / Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) – Demonstrates employability skills in reading, math, and problem-solving.
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Industry Certifications – Microsoft Office Specialist, Adobe Certified Associate, ServSafe, OSHA Safety, NCCER Core Curriculum.
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Professional Licenses – Cosmetology, CNA, HVAC, and other trade-specific licenses.
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Dual Enrollment College Credentials – Earn college credits while completing high school programs through Catawba Valley Community College.
Program-Specific Credentials
Explore our CTE Curriculum Guide to discover 82+ credentials you can earn at our six high schools!
Recognition & Awards
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State and national competition achievements (HOSA, SkillsUSA, FBLA, TSA).
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Scholarships and industry recognitions for top-performing students.
Why it matters: Credentials earned through CTE programs give students proof of their skills, boost confidence, and open doors to employment and further education.
Career exploration in a partnership between students, families, and schools. These resources can help students explore career pathways, plan for the future, and understand opportunities available through Career & Technical Education.
Career Development Cordinators
Bandys High – Jeanne Davis
Bunker Hill High – Shelly Essary-Isenhour
Fred T. Foard High – Daniel Cadle
Maiden High – Adam Windham
St. Stephens High – Kristen Lewis
Challenger High & Middle Schools – Angela Raby
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Catawba County Schools offers many Career & Technical Education (CTE) pathways to help you explore careers and discover what you enjoy. Because each school offers different pathways, you can learn more about all options by checking out our CTE Curriculum Guide. Click the button below to see what pathways are available at each school and find out which careers and skills you could pursue!
-
Discover Your Interests
Choosing a career can feel overwhelming, but understanding your interests is a great place to start. The NCCareers.org website provides free tools to help students explore careers that match their strengths, interests, and skills. By completing a short career interest inventory, you can learn about careers that might be a good fit for you and the education or training those careers require.
Watch How to get Started
Get Started in 4 Easy Steps
- Visit NCCareers Website
- Create a Free student account using your NCEdCloud
- Complete the Career Interest Inventory
- Review your results to see careers and pathways that match your interests.
What You will Learn
-
Careers that match your interests
-
Skills needed for different career fields
-
Education or training required
-
Possible salary ranges and job outlook
Explore Your Interests
➡ Take the Career Interest Inventory on NCCareers.org(Link button to the NCCareers.org interest profiler page.)
Need Help?
If you have questions or would like help understanding your results, contact your Career Development Coordinator (CDC).
-
Connecting Students to Careers. Building the Workforce of Tomorrow.
Catawba County Schools is committed to preparing students for success beyond the classroom. Through our Work-Based Learning (WBL) program, students gain hands-on experience, real-world skills, and valuable career connections — all while earning high school credit and exploring future pathways.
Our WBL program includes two major opportunities: Job Shadowing and Internships. Each experience is designed to help students connect classroom learning with career goals while developing the confidence and professionalism needed to thrive in today’s workforce.
Students who are interested in participating in these programs should sign up for classes during registration and meet with their Career Development Coordinator.
NEW 2026-2027 Applications are Open!
Apply Below
Click on the button below to apply today!
Summer 2026 Application (Rising 9th-12th Graders)
2026/2027 Semester Internship Application (Rising 11th & 12th Graders)
Questions? Ask for you school’s Career Development Coordinator for more information.
-
CTE Credentials & Certifications
Our Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs help students gain real-world skills and recognized credentials that prepare them for college, careers, and beyond. Earning these certifications gives students a competitive edge and validates their expertise in their chosen pathway.
Example State & National Credentials
-
North Carolina WorkKeys / Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) – Demonstrates employability skills in reading, math, and problem-solving.
-
Industry Certifications – Microsoft Office Specialist, Adobe Certified Associate, ServSafe, OSHA Safety, NCCER Core Curriculum.
-
Professional Licenses – Cosmetology, CNA, HVAC, and other trade-specific licenses.
-
Dual Enrollment College Credentials – Earn college credits while completing high school programs through Catawba Valley Community College.
Program-Specific Credentials
Explore our CTE Curriculum Guide to discover 82+ credentials you can earn at our six high schools!
Recognition & Awards
-
State and national competition achievements (HOSA, SkillsUSA, FBLA, TSA).
-
Scholarships and industry recognitions for top-performing students.
Why it matters: Credentials earned through CTE programs give students proof of their skills, boost confidence, and open doors to employment and further education.
-
-
Career exploration in a partnership between students, families, and schools. These resources can help students explore career pathways, plan for the future, and understand opportunities available through Career & Technical Education.
Career Development Cordinators
Bandys High – Jeanne Davis
Bunker Hill High – Shelly Essary-Isenhour
Fred T. Foard High – Daniel Cadle
Maiden High – Adam Windham
St. Stephens High – Kristen Lewis
Challenger High & Middle Schools – Angela Raby
Learn about CTE
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In some ways, it’s not that different. In many high schools, you can still find the same voc-ed classes that existed half a century ago. They prepare students for jobs that don’t typically require college degrees, such as child care, welding, cosmetology, or plumbing.
But in important ways, CTE is very different than your grandfather’s voc ed. Many programs now focus on areas typically associated with associate or bachelor’s degrees, such as engineering or business. Because career-tech-ed classes of all kinds are increasingly seen as roads to additional study after high school, they are meant to be more academically rigorous than those of a previous generation.
Why is CTE becoming more focused on postsecondary degrees? I thought the whole point of CTE was to let students choose to skip college and go right to work.
Two big forces were central in bringing about that shift: New labor-market realities and a troubling past. Let’s take the second one first.The “tracking” we talked about earlier—where educators classified some students as “not college material” and placed them in voc ed classes—limited students' earnings and social mobility. Equity activists pressed for change, leading to a “college for all” movement that urged all students to attend four-year institutions.
Important changes in the labor market support the need for college, too. A shifting—and increasingly automated—economy offers few jobs for those without some kind of postsecondary training or degree.
Within the last decade, however, low college-completion rates led to a rethinking of the “college for all” movement. With only about half of college students actually completing bachelor’s degrees, policymakers began calling for a richer set of options for students who didn’t want to go the four-year-college route.
Recognizing these trends, career and technical education reshaped itself as a new kind of pathway: one that includes some form of postsecondary training. That could mean earning certification or credentials in good-paying fields like cybersecurity or robotics, or it could mean getting an associate or bachelor’s degree.
The revamping of CTE means new designs for high school programs, too. The best programs aim to keep the doors to college open by requiring rigorous college-prep classes for CTE students, while also providing them with hands-on learning that lets them apply academics to real-world problems, like designing underwater exploration devices in a marine biology program.
-Gewertz, Catherine. (2018, July 31). Career and Technical Education. Education Week.
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Statistics show that students who take two or three related courses in career-tech ed are more likely to graduate from high school on time than students in general. But they’re not more likely to enroll in college.
Gewertz, Catherine. (2018, July 31). Career and Technical Education. Education Week. -
Yes. But there’s an important caveat here: It depends on the student’s field of study. In some kinds of jobs, earnings are limited without a four-year degree. But in others, students with only a certification or two-year degree can expect to earn as much or more than those with bachelor’s degrees.
Medical technicians, for instance, can anticipate lifetime earnings of $2.2 million with only a two-year degree, according to a recent study, while elementary and middle-school teachers with bachelor’s degrees have average lifetime earnings of $1.7 million.
Gewertz, Catherine. (2018, July 31). Career and Technical Education. Education Week.
FAQs
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Career Clusters are groupings of occupations. Career Pathways are sub-groupings of occupational areas with a Career Cluster. Occupations are grouped into pathways based on the set of common knowledge and skills required for career success.
What is a concentrator course and why are they important?
A Concentrator Course is defined as a second or third-level course that builds upon skills acquired in a prerequisite course. Students are strongly encouraged to become a concentrators in multiple pathways due to the crossover of skills in a variety of career areas.
What is the NC Career and College Promise?
The NC Career and College Promise (CCP) offers North Carolina high school-aged students a clear, focused, and affordable path to future success. Qualified North Carolina high school-aged students can begin their two or four year college work, tuition free, while they are in high school, allowing them to get a head start on their workplace and collegiate preparation. Catawba County CTE offers a variety of CCP opportunities for students and is completed in partnership with Catawba Valley Community College.
Should students participate in work-based learning opportunities?
Work-based learning such as internships and apprenticeships are excellent opportunities for students to get real-world experiences in particular jobs or career fields. All students are encouraged to participate in multiple intern-ships. These opportunities are offered during the school year and throughout each summer.
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