What Makes a Vocational School?

What makes a school a vocational school? The answer is simple – ‘shop’.

Shop is the blessed two weeks when a vocational student is allowed to practice and learn in their field of choice. This week, the freshmen got their first taste of the hands-on learning offered by Old Colony’s many shops.

Feelings of excitement and apprehension were in the air as students, unsure of what to expect, entered their first shops. They worked through the week doing everything from wiring in electrical, to designing posters in graphics, to building beautiful woodwork in carpentry. Freshmen get to see that they’re capable of a lot, and sometimes they even get to take home their good work.

Some were happy with their first week, others were less than enthusiastic about their first assignments, but they wouldn’t be there for long. Freshmen start off in Exploratory, a trial run when each student will experience eight shops, one per week, over the coming months. Their attitude and effort in each shop will determine if they get accepted into their top pick. Students work hard each week testing out and learning what each vocation is all about and by January, they’ll all be assigned and sorted into their permanent fields of study for the next three years.

Shops aren’t the only thing that makes a vocational school one of a kind. SkillsUSA plays a big part in making vocational education special.

SkillsUSA, or Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) as it was once known, is a nationwide student organization that partners with industry leaders to help vocational students become skilled professional leaders in the world of work. From state competitions and leadership conferences to in-school events, SkillsUSA has a big impact on the vocational experience. The Old Colony Chapter of SkillsUSA is working especially hard this year to kick it up a notch.

OC’s SkillsUSA has only just elected its officers and begun its first meetings for the year, and already there are big things ahead. Plans for a garden are underway, as are plans for pep rally fundraisers and the yearly trip to the Fall State Leadership Conference.

The conference will be three days of fun events that teach high school students employability skills, as well as leadership skills, for their future careers.

It’s a huge event with hundreds of kids from around Massachusetts coming together for days of games, competitions, and fun. Old Colony’s chapter of SkillsUSA urges new students who haven’t experienced Skills to contact and join them for future events.

For more information about Old Colony’s technical programs, visit www.oldcolony.us and for more information on SkillsUSA, please visit www.skillsusa.org.

By Elizabeth Jerome