Published 8:00 am Thursday, May 2, 2024
SALEM — For about 1,000 Salem high school students the path to the future leads through a sprawling 150,000-square-foot building parked in the working class neighborhood lining Portland Road.
It is the Salem-Keizer School District’s Career Technology Education Center, and it is a best-kept secret.
Inside is a labyrinth of learning. From carpentry to law enforcement to auto body repair, the paths can take students in a total of 10 directions.
One of them is agriculture — formally called Sustainable Plant Science and Technology. In class, students learn about growing crops from the building blocks — DNA — on up.
During a Friday session, senior students were listening to a lecture from Luis Valenzuela Estrada, a faculty member who holds a Ph.D. in horticulture.
In another area, students were checking on their crops of kohlrabi, bok choy, kale, mint, tomatoes and basil, which they were growing in aeroponic and hydroponic vertical farms.
This is not your grandfather’s vocational school.
Jaime Campos is one of the ag students. His interest: microbiology.
He is 16 and a junior at North Salem High school.
“In my sophomore year there was a CTEC road show event that I attended,” he said. He found that his interest in biology dovetailed with the plant science curriculum.
CTEC is tailored for high school juniors and seniors.
The first year, the curriculum has been studying the inner workings of plants, he said. “It certainly connects pretty well to microbiology in general.”
A classmate, Rinoa Davidson, is 16 and a junior at South Salem High School. She is interested in plant science — specifically becoming a pathologist, the detective who helps farmers figure out whatever bacteria or fungi are ailing their crops.
“I’ve been taking care of my own plants for a couple years now and I was just curious about how I could take care of them better,” she said.
Among her collection are aloe, cactus and “a lot of succulents,” she said.
“I know I definitely want to go into a science, I know I already have agricultural science set out for me, but I think forensic science would be nice, too,” she said, referring to a class visit by a USDA plant pathologist who piqued her interest.
Jasmine Filley is one of three faculty members in the plant science department. She teaches biochemistry, ecology — and English, which she integrates into the other subjects.
One of the principles they cover is plant anatomy. “While our plant scientist is teaching plant anatomy … I’m teaching them chemical pathways of the elements that are in plants, how they move through plants,” she said.
She also sees her job as sort of a guide for students interested in agriculture.
“We teach them the principles they would need to work in that industry but also go on to higher education,” she said. “They’re learning lab skills and aseptic techniques, the plant anatomy. …”
In other words, the students are constantly adding skills to their tool box.
“We really try and focus on the skills that a student would learn and so those skills can be transferred to just about any program within the sciences and also into professional careers,” she said.
As they discover the many facets of plant science, they also learn about the options available to them through CTEC’s cooperation with Chemeketa Community College, which has its own top-line agricultural program for students who want to continue after high school.
CTEC also has cooperative agreements with Oregon State University and Western Oregon University.
As importantly, students prepare themselves to enter the job market. They visit area nurseries, farms and ag-related companies, where they learn about the jobs available to them and their classmates.
Industry representatives visit classes to talk about their fields and the opportunities they offer.
“A lot of times on Mondays we’ll have industry professionals come in, so we not only connect with higher ed but we have industry partners that come in,” Filley said.
“For instance, we just had Jerry Weiland from the USDA in Corvallis who is a plant pathologist,” she said. “He spent the entire morning and afternoon going over what plant diseases look like — how do you know it’s a virus or fungi?”
He brought in samples that the students checked out under microscopes.
“They got to spend the day being pathologists,” Filley said.
Other presentations range from soil science to composting.
Combined with field trips, the students have the chance to see what it’s like to do these jobs, she said. “They get to see, What is the job like, so they can see it from every angle.”
“It runs the gamut,” she said. Also on campus is a student-run plant shop with specimens that were grown in class.
Many students are hired directly out of CTEC, Filley said.
She told of one student who was interested in culturing tissue for a particular type of philodendron.
“She researched all of the information she would need and did that for her capstone project,” Filley said.
For her final presentation, the student invited a lab manager from an area nursery that cultures plant tissues.
“She came and watched her presentation,” Filley said. “After the presentation they went to lunch and she hired her to work at the nursery.”
“Although we are preparing students primarily for going on to higher ed we also have those options where they can go right into the field because they learn those skills that are needed,” Filley said.
Students accumulate college credits before they graduate from high school. Faculty from OSU and Chemeketa serve as guest lecturers.
In addition, CTEC teaches Horticulture 111, a college-level class, “so they’re getting that first credit at Chemeketa,” Filley said. “We’re trying to connect with them as many ways as we can.”
Filley also teaches the college-level Communications 111 and Sustainability 101 classes, adding to their credits.
Another primary connection is with OSU. Students tour the College of Agricultural Sciences, and “we have OSU instructors come out here and they teach a day with our students,” she said. “Our students get that insight into what it is like to be taught by faculty members.”
She estimated about a third of CTEC grads go on to Chemeketa and a third go on to four-year institutions such as Western Oregon, OSU and the University of Oregon.
“And then I would say about a third go directly into industry,” Filley said.
