Tag Archives: EPISD

Students in EPISD’s electrical skills program traded their summer sunglasses for safety goggles during their break to hone their craft and earn a little cash along the way.

Eight student workers from the CCTE electrical skills program spent up to 20 hours a week this summer putting into practice what they learned in the classroom during the school year.

Inside the campus’ auto and body shops, the students replaced outdated fluorescent lighting with new, brighter energy-efficient LED fixtures. Other duties had students painting, wiring new cosmetology workstations and installing new switches and projectors in classrooms.

The group of interns traveled to other schools, under the guidance of teacher Victor Ramirez, to fulfill much needed electrical projects throughout EPISD.

“They take a lot of pride in the work they are doing,” Ramirez said. “They can go back and say that ‘I worked at that school and I did this certain room or project.’”

Austin High senior Claudia Whitedog wants to teach music when she graduates from college but knows the value of the skills she’s developing at CCTE – especially installing lighting and switches.

“I spent a week trying to figure it out and then when I finally got to turn on the light switches and they lit up, I was like, ‘that’s awesome.’”

Whitedog joined the program to have a summer job to further develop her electrical skills.

“I know what I’m doing,” she said. “I’d rather do this than running around at a restaurant trying to seat people or cook something or stock shelves. I like that there is something new to do here every day.”

Pablo Ordoñez enjoyed learning about electrical technology and the job opportunity it gave him after graduating from Coronado High School this spring.

“It makes you feel good because you’re making your school better and then you can look back and say, oh, ‘I did that.’ I had a good experience,” he said, under the newly installed LED lights. “CCTE is an amazing school. You can learn anything you want to learn here and you get a lot of great experience.”

While Whitedog and Ordoñez don’t plan to become electricians after college, Ramirez touts the value of the opportunities available at CCTE. The electrical technology teacher was introduced to his trade as a CCTE student in the 1970s, worked in the industry after graduation and then returned to the campus to teach future generations of electricians.

“I have a lot of students who have learned to sheet rock and paint and tile along with electrical work so when they get graduate and own their homes, they usually don’t have to pay anybody to do it because they learned how to do it here,” Ramirez said. “It saves them a lot of money in the long run and they can learn how to build things and then they can apply it to whatever they want to do.”

These industry certifications available at CCTE can translate into careers immediately after graduation.

“You can get out of high school and go right into the industry,” Ramirez said. “Take cosmetology for example. A lot of the students here, they’ll be able to go into the salons right away once they passed their license and a lot of them put themselves through college that way.”

The final touch for El Paso ISD’s (EPISD) Class of 2018 came on Thursday morning when nearly 200 students from every high school in the District received their diploma during summer commencement exercises.

The ceremony celebrated those students who fulfilled graduation requirements during the summer and are now eligible to take the final step out of high school.

“This is a very special day,” said Elizabeth Saenz, deputy superintendent of academics and school leadership. “This is a group of hard working, forward thinking and innovative students who are better prepared to take on the challenges of the 21^st century than ever before. We hope this is only the beginning.”

Students from all of EPISD’s high schools were represented at the event, which was attended by district superintendent Juan Cabrera, board members, leadership, and of course, graduating seniors’ friends and family.

Andress High School senior Analissa De Los Santos was happy to share the milestone with her loved ones.

“I feel really good. It means a lot because I worked really hard and am graduating a year early,” she said. “I am excited to start school at NMSU in the fall and study nursing.”

Burges High School grad Hendrix Calleros is looking forward to the next chapter in his life.

“I feel really excited to have completed this goal I have been working on,” he said. “These four years have been a great experience. I am grateful to all the teachers and friends I have made along the way.”

Story by Alicia Chumley  |  Photos by Leonel Monroy  |  Video by Angel Domiguez/EPISD

When teachers and students return to school in August, computers throughout the District will be working properly and efficiently thanks a to small group of unsung heroes.

These summertime warriors are traveling throughout EPISD schools to troubleshoot, image and update computers and laptops so that all technology is geared up and ready for the start of the 2018-19 academic year.

And while these tech wizards are experienced and well trained, they are all still EPISD high-school students participating in CCTE’s work-based learning program.

“These guys are hard working and know what they’re doing,” said Travis Hamilton, a telecommunications and networking teacher at CCTE. “The work that they’re doing over the summer is helping EPISD be ready to get started come the first day of school. Without them, this task would be very difficult.”

The work-based learning program gives students the opportunity to be hired by the District as actual technicians. The students will work on more than 4,000 computers in all of EPISD’s high school and middle school computer labs this summer. During the school year, the students work from 4 to 8 p.m., working on computers remotely from CCTE or in person.

“In the classroom, there’s limited hands-on experience. They can practice taking apart a computer a number of times, but when they get out they see the different kinds of problems that they may run into,” Hamilton said. “It really gives them that extra experience of what to expect in the field, and they can put it on their resume.”

Coronado student Brady Patrick serves as the program’s senior team leader, making sure everything runs smoothly at each location.

“Our first year we are trained to identify hardware issues, so we can take a computer that has a physical malfunction and figure out what part is having the issue,” he said. “In our second year, we learn about networking issues and how to troubleshoot those.”

Students image each computer and work with teachers to ensure the labs are ready to go when classes start in August.

“Later on this summer we are going to have the teachers tell us what software they really need, so we can go ahead and install those,” he said.

Patrick appreciates the knowledge and skills he has built, which he thinks will help him land a well-paying job while he attends college. 

“The CompTIA A+, which is the certification we are training to receive, is comparable to six months experience,” he said. “So, if you start as a junior, you come out with two years of IT experience, which really gets your foot in the door in a lot of places right out of high school.”

Incoming senior Dawson Dominguez is starting his second year in the CTE program.

“I absolutely love this program. I have learned so much from when I first started,” he said.

He plans on pursuing a career in cyber security when he graduates.

“This next year we are doing Cisco and network security, which will help me with my goals,” Dominguez said. “It’s going to help me learn commands and how to fix things. I would recommend this program. You may go in thinking you know a lot about computers, but you will learn so much more than you thought you knew. It’s absolutely amazing.”

School may be out for the summer, but learning and hard work never take a break at EPISD’s only FFA Farm.

Coronado High School Senior Jonathan Carrizal earlier this week took the wheel of the giant swather, cutting the alfalfa surrounding the 36-acre farm on Lindbergh Avenue. A few yards away, fellow T-Bird Chris Thatch, a sophomore, bathed his calf Magnus to get it prepped for competition.

The working farm gives students a chance to earn credit while learning about agriculture and develop skills for life. Teachers Armando Flores and Jennifer Matejcek spend their summer days on the farm – nurturing the livestock, crops and keeping up the grounds where calves, goats, a pig and chickens live. Students work and volunteer all summer working with the animals and preparing the hay for their livestock and public sale.

“The common misconception about that program is that you have to be a farmer or rancher to be involved in FFA,” said Flores, a lifelong farmer who lives on farm grounds. “That’s not quite the case. We’ve got lots of urbanized students participating with us. We emphasize creating great leaders and great public speakers that can go out into the workplace and be great employees for businesses out there.”

Carrizal stepped out of the swather after plotting perfect lines of trimmed hay.

“I’ve had a farm as long as I can remember. I know how to work and what to do,” he said. “I like the lifestyle. It’s a beautiful day.”

An experienced farmer, Carrizal puts his knowledge and rodeo skills to use to represent Coronado in competitions. This month, he earned fourth place in the Texas FFA Rodeo for team roping – a skill he’s been honing since age 4.

“It’s going to help me in the future,” he said. “It’s what I want to do, and it’ll help me get there.”

Thatch, on the other hand, came to the farm with no experience. He spent much of the morning blowing out the hair of his calf, which he plans to enter in the show steer category in competitions and take to market to sell. Like some students raising and competing with livestock, Thatch actually owns Magnus.

“I just live in a normal, small house in the city, so I would never have an opportunity to do any of this stuff without this place,” he said, while finishing up Magnus’ bath ritual. “You can make a lot of money if you win.”

Thatch isn’t sure the farm life is in his future but he knows the experience will give him a boost later in life.

“If I move into something like agriculture, owning steer or running a ranching or something, I’ll know how to handle these things,” he said. “And for college, they like to see that you stuck with something, so I’ll try to do this all four years of high school.”

The farm also just recently took in two baby goats, which Matejcek began training to walk and brace – key elements for competition later in the fall. They jumped and pulled on their leashes but the experienced rancher knew just how to rein them in.

“I wish more kids would understand the opportunity they have here and try it out,” she said, bracing a 3-month-old goat to show off the muscle definition in his legs and back.

Matejcek enjoys the show portion of FFA and the experience it gives students to learn about animal husbandry: how to work with the livestock, keep them healthy, groom them, raise them and build up their muscle for show and eventual sale. Like Flores, it’s a lifestyle she enjoys and wants to share with students.

“When we go to market, we sell to generate money for our program,” she said, describing how the livestock are great buys because the animals are well taken care of by students. “You’ll never have a bigger turkey than one you buy from a student.”

It also gives those students like Carrizal, who grew up on a farm, a chance to advance his skills so they can raise livestock on their own or get a jump start on a career as a veterinarian.

“There’s no other program like it in EPISD,” Flores said. “I venture to say that we probably have one of the most technologically advanced ag programs when it comes to equipment in Texas. We’re very fortunate that we’ve got a full-on production farm, and it’s in the middle of El Paso.”

And while the farm life is a big part of the agricultural program, Flores stressed the importance of the leadership curriculum taught in the classroom at Coronado, including parliamentary procedure and public speaking.

“Our students excel in that because we really try and knock it out of the park when it comes to public speaking,” Flores said. “When we can get our kids to be good public speakers and be able to get in front of a crowd, that’s going to make our programs shine above all others.”