Flying drones. Changing oil and rotating tires. Taking care of elderly patients. At Bellevue Public Schools, it’s all part of a day at school.
Vocational education has gained attention as public schools seek to help students who may otherwise fall through the cracks, said Bradley Stueve, Bellevue’s Coordinator of College and Career Education/Program Services.
Not all students want to go to college, so vocational education is an option to learn a trade which can be rewarding and profitable, Steve said.
Bellevue Public Schools completed a remodel of the Career Education Center earlier this year, home to the automotive maintenance, medical and drone programs. An education class, geared for students interested in becoming teachers, was recently added.
About 300 students attend classes at the career center, Stueve said. Students from Bellevue West typically attend morning classes, while afternoon sessions are slotted for Bellevue East students. Some classes have a mix of students.
The programs are popular with students.
Taylana Tolbert dreams of one day being a cardiovascular surgeon. But, the Bellevue West junior believes learning frontline patient care as a Certified Nursing Assistant will make her a better doctor.
“I am really looking forward to working with patients one-on-one, and getting my own patients,” Tolbert said. “I’m kind of nervous to take the test and pass all the stuff. Maybe I’ll get a patient that might not be as healthy or good in some conditions, so I am a little worried about that. But I also think it’s really good experience, especially for what I want to do.”
Tolbert is one of about 40 students in Kristan Burlingame’s Health Sciences program. The course, which lasts the academic year, includes learning medical terminology, first aid and certification in Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Burlingame said.
The second semester covers learning about becoming a certified nursing assistant. Students complete a practical evaluation and written exam to become state-certified, Burlingame said. Students can then work in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and in other healthcare opportunities.
Bellevue Public Schools has an agreement with Hillcrest Health and Living for students to gain experience and complete training, Stueve said.
A first-year program, the Aviation Academy delves into aviation-related careers, ranging from piloting drones to aircraft maintenance. The program includes experiences via 15 flight simulators.
After receiving their basic drone pilot licenses early in the fall semester, students get hands-on training piloting drones, said Bob Condrey, a veteran pilot, mechanic and aircraft inspector.
“The goal is to get them exposure to the industry, because there’s a multitude of jobs,” Condrey said. “There’s not just pilots or drone pilots, but everything from management, legal, engineering, manufacturing, management, finance. All kinds of things that are related to this.
“And so this exposes them to touch points, and they will have that knowledge. So even if the goal were to be a civil engineer, they would have all the knowledge that it would take to do projects for the FAA at airports or other facilities.”
By the end of the academic yearlong course, students will actually fly airplanes as student pilots, receiving an endorsement to take the written test for their pilot license through the Federal Aviation Administration, Condrey said. They can then pursue the pilot portion of the exam on their own, he said.
Each student will receive a commercial pilot license for drone aircraft, Condrey said. This opens career opportunities in photography, agriculture and other commercial ventures, he said.
For Asher Robey, the aviation program provides an avenue to one day possibly flying military aircraft.
“I’ve been wanting to go into the military, specifically Air Force, and flying planes has been like my thing,” said Robey, a senior. “And this program has really opened my eyes. I was like, ‘Wow, this could be a really good thing.'”
Continuing the school district’s hands-on training, the automotive program gives students a chance to perform basic maintenance on vehicles, including oil changes and tire rotation, Stueve said.
“They start off with just learning how to drive the cars into the shop,” he said. “They get them on to the lifts, getting them up on the lifts, get them down, backing them out and bringing them back.
“We go clear back to the very fundamentals of being a maintenance guy. That’s what it starts with, just getting the cars off and on the lifts. We have brake lathe machines, balancing machines, we have tire changing machines. So they learn all that.”
The first program to be located at the career education center during the 2020-21 school year, Automotive Technology uses modern testing equipment to enhance training. It also offers dual enrollment with Metropolitan Community College, with students achieving a year of credit with the school, Stueve said.
Realizing a need existed to develop future teachers, Bellevue Public Schools created the education program, Stueve said.
“When COVID hit, people just exited the field of education,” he said. “We used to have thousands of applications for every job we’d have open. That was cut in half.”
BPS decided to create its own education program to help develop future educators, Stueve said. Participating students receive college credits from Metro and Doane University, he said.
“We hook them up with a master teacher within our district, and they are actually in the classroom getting hands-on experience about what it takes to be a teacher,” Stueve said. “They see the good. The bad. They see it all.
“They’re writing lesson plans. They get up in front and teach kids. It’s a full dive into the world of teaching for these kids. So they know, beyond a doubt, if they want to do it or not when they leave us again.”
Students who complete the Bellevue education course and go on to receive education degrees are guaranteed a job interview with the district, Stueve said.
While the career education center focuses on four major programs, other vocational courses – woodworking, metalwork and culinary skills – are located at the district’s two high schools, Stueve said.
Public attitudes have seemingly changed, encouraging students to pursue careers in vocational trades, he said. Bellevue hopes to keep improve trade jobs numbers through its career education center’s programs, he said.
“What happened was, years ago, the four-year schools were getting pushed so heavily on everybody,” Stueve said. “Every year, it was four-year school after four-year school. And what happened was our two-year schools and our trades workers dropped.”
Tim Trudell is a freelance writer and online content creator. His work has appeared in Flatwater Free Press, Next Avenue, Indian Country Today, Nebraska Life, Nebraska Magazine, Council Bluffs Daily Non-Pareil and Douglas County Post Gazette, among others. He is a citizen of the Santee Dakota Nation.
