Visit Tri-County Tech during CTE Month

By Dr. Patrick O’Neil
TCTC Director

    The month of February is National Recognition of Centers for Technical Education (CTE).
Here in Maine, we have 27 centers and regions covering the I-95 corridor from Kittery to Calais, Aroostook County to Fort Kent and recently all the way west to Jackman.

    At Tri-County Technical Center in Dexter, we serve six high schools: Nokomis, Dexter Regional, Penquis, Piscataquis, Greenville and Foxcroft Academy.
    The center offers 10 programs that teach entry level skills in the following areas: auto tech, building trades, precision machine, computer tech programming and repair, pre-tech exploratory, health occupations, culinary arts and baking, commercial truck driving, graphic design and communications and criminal justice.
    Besides getting skill sets that are based on industry standards, some programs issue certifications such as NATEF, ASE, ServeSafe, CNA, CDL Class A and Class B, Microsoft, A-Plus, just like business and industry does. These certifications make the student more attractive to potential employers because of the additional training they have received while at TCTC.
    Enrollments over the past six years have been growing steadily and there are definite increases in particular programs like CNA, CDL, auto tech and building trades as well as culinary and criminal justice.
There are jobs in our trades and students not going on to post-secondary schools or training schools are able to secure positions in the greater Bangor area.
    While at Tri-County, students also do community service work or help out in projects sponsored in the state.
    Culinary services opens a restaurant two days a week and local folks come in and enjoy banner meals prepared and served by students. Usually, the restaurant is open from late October to late May. They also do some catering functions and provide several organizations with luncheons and take care of special occasions.
    Building trades students traveled to Otisfield last June to do construction work and plumbing at the Seeds of Peace camp. Every August for the past 20 years, “Seeds” has been hosting students from Israel and Palestine.
    We like to say “We are the little school that can.” Nothing is insurmountable, given the skills, tools, and knowledge we have under our roof.
    All instructors are masters at what they do and the students who come to us willing to learn and work hard are all but guaranteed a good future with a decent job, a solid work ethic, and skills necessary to advance in the future.
    So during February, stop by the center and see for yourself how young people are learning to be productive citizens and contributors to future economies.