Last week we heard from Marcy Harrifeld to tell us about Crete Academies.  Crete Academies has just completed its 3rd year of full implementation, and will be going into its 4th next school year.  Marcy was asked to make the vision come alive, and spent 2 full years researching.  The idea of Crete Academies is the high school students will choose a path they'd like to go into and spend their high school career getting specific instruction to that field wither it be through college courses or partnerships with employers in the community.  There are total of 10 pathways (most schools the size of Crete have 2): business, health sciences, education, agriculture, multimedia design, information technology, construction, automotive, engineering, or welding.  They are graduating with college credit or certifications their peers do not have, giving them an advantage they either continue their education or join the workforce.

 

Students are privileged to have additional resources available to them like the Anatomage table where it gives students hands on preparation for the Health Science and Agriculture pathways.  They also have the Hurco CNC Mill which gives them real-world experience in machining and manufacturing, welding, robotics, engineering, and industrial technology.  Both of these machines help students learn the machines they'll be using in their careers, rather than starting to learn when on the job.

 

There is an opportunity for Rotarians to help individually if they feel led.  These machines do come at a cost, and showing community support is important all-around but it specifically helps when the Crete Public Schools foundation applies for grants to fund the academies.  If you'd like, please send any donation checks this week to Marilea Thiem.  The checks should be made out to the Crete Public Schools Foundation, and should have "Crete Academies" written in the memo line to ensure your donation does get allocated to the Foundation.  Anything helps!

 

Next meeting we will hear from Crete Student, Alyssa Capek, who went to State in Speech this past year!  We will also invite our scholarship recipients to share a little about their future plans.  

 

June 10th is open for a meeting, and June 24th we hope to have a "Pass the Gavel" social event.  We hope to see you there!