The Sierra College Workforce Development and Continuing Education Division has received $600,000 in grant funding from the California Community College Chancellor’s office.

The funds will enable the development of a collaborative between community college programs and secondary schools in the region.

“Our vision is to engage all students in applied learning,” said Sandra Scott, director of economic development at Sierra College. “Students will have the opportunity to imagine, design and make something while applying academic principles learned in physics, math, English or any subject.

“With the confidence built through hands-on projects and applied academics, students will want to continue their technical education at Sierra College to prepare for successful careers in product design, technology and engineering with manufacturing,” she said.

The project will align career technical education (CTE) courses at the high school level with Sierra College’s Mechatronics, Engineering and Engineering Support Technology programs.

Part of the project will be piloted at Colfax High School where a sequence of courses will be developed that are responsive to industry needs and focus on occupational skill sets.

“We are thrilled with the opportunity to establish a new program involving multiple teachers and industry partners,” said Colfax High school Principal Rick Spears. “It is a whole new way of preparing our students for the future and could lead them into creative, highly satisfying and well-paid technical careers that they may not have considered without this early exposure.”

As part of the Tech-Explorer pilot program, staff from Sierra College’s Center for Applied Competitive Technologies earlier this month introduced seventh- and eighth-graders at Colfax Elementary School to job opportunities.

Project Manager Steve Hunter, a retired Sierra College faculty member and Colfax resident, is on a mission to dispel the myth that jobs in technology are not viable.

“In the United States, unlike Europe, careers in technology are viewed as ‘blue collar’ work and not usually first choice options,” Hunter said in an earlier interview. “Instead there is a stigma attached to these careers and people look at the work as noisy, dirty, dangerous and of moderate pay.”

Rather, jobs in the tech field pay from $28,000 to $130,000 annually.

The college staff hopes that by engaging elementary and high school students in tech careers at an early age they might be interested in developing those skills at the community college level.

Sierra College in partnership with the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District will implement another part of the project at North Tahoe High School.

The Truckee project will complement the school’s existing construction program by adding an engineering and architectural component that teaches computer assisted drafting, solid modeling and rapid prototyping technologies, reported Bev Ducey, Tahoe Truckee Unified School District board member.

“We anticipate forming a Tahoe Truckee Engineering and Architectural team to provide advice as we develop a sequence of courses that will incorporate CTE standards and industry-identified skills,” she said. “This program will create multiple pathways for our students. They will be able to seek employment in this field after graduation, articulate to Sierra College’s Engineering and Engineering Support Technology programs or go on to university to study engineering, architecture or construction management. The bottom line is our students will be better prepared to follow a technical education path and find interesting, highly paid jobs.”

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