Wednesday evening Oct. 23 was an unusually vibrant evening at Bethlehem Area Vo-Tech’s open house. School-to-Career Coordinator Connie Muschko explained that this is a yearly event when middle school students are invited, with their parents, for recruitment purposes. Muschko said that in addition to recruitment, “We also encourage family/community participation to inform students about the opportunities available through career and technical education both at the secondary and postsecondary levels.”

Guests were presented with a variety of activities, clubs, groups and over 30 educational vocational career options. Vocational careers extend into a variety of contemporary careers, as well as the traditional.

Career areas are divided into “clusters” and clusters have subcategories with more specific areas of concentration. For example, the Construction Cluster includes traditional skilled labor careers such as carpentry, electrical, HVAC, masonry and plumbing. A more contemporary cluster is the Creative Custer that includes commercial art, graphic art, multimedia Web design, social media marketing and video and media arts. Other clusters include the Culinary Cluster, the Health Cluster, Service and Safety Cluster, Transportation Cluster, and Manufacturing Cluster.

Teachers, students and alumni were available in each cluster to answer questions. Muschko was available to speak to students and parents about cooperative education, which provides a chance to work in their career of choice while still attending school.

HVAC instructor Donald Heptner explained how the connection between learning in the classroom and being able to put knowledge and skills to the test in practical situations best prepares students. The challenges both in and out of the classroom make for a confident, knowledgeable mechanic, and highly employable high school graduates, he said.

When asked how he liked the program and what he liked most, student Levi Myers stated without reservation, “I really enjoy the sense of community we have in the whole school and specifically the cluster, I’m really happy that we are given the chance to work and intern in businesses while we finish school. One friend is starting at ABE Airport. Most of all, our teacher is great.”

Besides being able to see students and alumni practicing their craft throughout the school, a new addition this year is the outdoor pizza kitchen. Muschko said the correct term for this area is “the Italian Café.” Students were making pizzas in the stone oven and guests were able to dine in the attached Café. The length of the lines to procure pizza proved the popularity of this area.