GRAYSON COUNTY, Va. – School districts are rethinking how they prepare students for life after graduation—and in Grayson County, that means putting tools in their hands and skills on their résumés.
Over the past few years, Grayson County Public School leaders have been focusing on vocational classes for their students.
“Most of our trades programs stay relatively full,” said Temple Musser, Vocational School Principal.
With recent investments of almost $300,000 into vocational programs, students are getting even more opportunities.
“This is our new lab,” said Kelly Wilmore. “All new equipment, everything. We got a $50,000 grant locally from the county and then we over $100,000 in free equipment from Wytheville Community College, so we have raised a lot of money for this in here, probably close to $200,000,” Wilmore said. “My guess is probably close to $300,000 [for] everything.”
The head of the CTE Center Temple Musser said these classes give opportunities for students to grow in more ways than the traditional classroom.
“Our numbers have stayed really really good, and it is popular in this area. All the trades, auto tech, precision machine,” Musser said. “All those programs do really well here. A lot of jobs in this area.”
As for the students -- the hands-on approach is sparking both passion and pride.
“This is our manual mill,” said Joe Shaver, a junior. “Pretty much you just bring it up over here touch it.”
“This is one of the signs one of my kids made, he’s a guitar player,” said Eddie Bond, Machine shop teacher.
They said they are just excited to see what the welding program could be here in the next couple of years.