DeSoto ISD introduces new career and technical program with first cohort of students

DeSoto ISD is doing what it can to help the next generation of workers hit the ground running when they graduate.

The district’s Career and Technical Education Program puts students on track for careers right after high school, or jobs while they matriculate through college.

What happens inside one of DeSoto High School’s science labs is important work. It’s work that could place a group of young students on a path they’d never considered before now.

It’s called the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing program – with a focus on Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP). It’s the latest addition to the Career and Technical Education Program offered by DeSoto ISD.

Senior Christian Rees said his dad convinced him to take the course, giving him a vision beyond the life he has now.

“Things he wished he had done at my age,” Rees said. “So, everything that he didn’t get a chance to do, I’m going to make sure that I do and more.”

He’s 17 years old and one of the first cohort of students to complete the program.

“I was initially struggling on what I was going to figure out to do to be able to afford college and put food and clothes on my back while living alone at 18,” said Rees.

Students like Rees are exactly who Melinda Pugh said the district had in mind when CTE was created. Pugh is the director of the program.

“It’s great just to see the progression and to see that lightbulb to come on their senior year when they’re actually getting to do what they’ve worked for those previous years,” Pugh said.

She told 온라인카지노사이트 5 that DeSoto ISD partners with a range of local and regional industry leaders for guidance on workforce trends to ensure their programs adequately equip students to meet those standards. The goal here is straightforward.

“By the end of their senior year, they will have some sort of industry-based certification,” she said.

For this program, they partnered with Dallas College and Panthera BioSolutions. Hardik Patel is the cofounder of Panthera and is the lead instructor for the four-week course.

“We’re looking for skilled labor. And what I mean by that is this industry is about to exponentially grow in this area,” said Patel.

Panthera BioSolutions is based in North Texas. Patel said a partnership with DeSoto ISD made sense, especially considering workforce demands and what he’s been up against for the past several years.

“We had to go outside of Texas to get these people in here,” he said. “We don’t want to go outside anymore. We need to find people here because we have people here.”

He said the opportunities for entry-level positions run the gamut.

“There’s general warehousing, packaging technicians, fill techs, HVAC, facility techs, validation associates,” said Patel.

In 2023, Dallas was named one of three regional hubs for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. It’s an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services. Patel said he considers it a federal stamp of approval for North Texas and confirmation that educational resources are needed.

“We need a workforce to be developed, and who better than to start off with these young minds?” he said.

Rees said he plans to attend college. Some of his classmates might go straight into an entry-level position to jumpstart their careers. Either way, he believes the foundation for success was laid in his high school lab.

“Getting these certifications and these licenses opens up doors. You just gotta take the [initiative] to walk through and be persistent about it,” he said.

In addition to a certificate, the district’s partnership with Dallas College gives students dual-enrollment opportunities, allowing them to earn college credit while completing the course.

For more information about DeSoto ISD’s CTE programs, visit .