Charlottesville, VA

When it opened in 1973, the Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center was envisioned as a career and tech training center that would prepare high-school students for jobs. In the ensuing decades, it’s become much more.

“It really was seen as a regional career center, with an adult component in the evening hours,” says Darah Bonham, director. “The idea was to prepare students in trades and workplace readiness programs. That’s remained the same, but what has changed has been the programs themselves. What we’re doing now is much more focused on 21st-century learning than before.”

From a coursework perspective, that means stalwarts such as carpentry, masonry and auto repair have been joined by medical sciences, nurse’s assistant and other programs as those fields grow and require a steady stream of skilled workers. CATEC is always evaluating the various service industries, from culinary programs to cosmetology, and has courses ranging from pharmacy and dental technicians to horticulture and landscaping.

The key, Bonham says, is to stay acutely tuned in to the marketplace and follow economic development trends so that graduates are employed quickly. That means preparing students not just for their field of choice, but also supplying them with skills that are transferable to a variety of other positions they may seek during their professional lives.

“We’ve always been focused on soft skills in the workplace,” Bonham says. “Some students will change careers 10 to 14 times, and so we’re preparing them with skills that are transferable and portable, whether they stay in their chosen industry or not.”

One way that is being done is by working with Piedmont Virginia Community College on a variety of entrepreneurship initiatives, adding some layers onto the basic coursework to give students a better sense of the business world at large.

“We’re having them make business plans, learn about the markets, budgeting, human-resource components … what it’s like to be able to market their business and get investors,” Bonham says. “This lets students learn not just the technical side, but also the business and marketing side. Many of them will want to own their own businesses someday, so this gives them an understanding of the options down the road.”

All this comes with tremendous community support, from local school systems to the University of Virginia, which has contributed job-market analysis so that CATEC can be sure it’s offering programs that align with available jobs in the region.

“We are a career and tech center that provides experience and pathway opportunities, but we also are teaching a wide range of skill sets, anywhere from new technology to entrepreneurship,” Bonham says. “At the end of the day, we want students to have the skill sets to understand the bigger picture, and how they can utilize that to open up more doors within a specific industry or in other opportunities that present themselves.”