You might have noticed “Perkins” on equipment in your Career Technical Education (CTE) classes and wondered what that was all about. Carl Perkins Grants are federally funded. They allow our CTE classes to improve and expand their resources.
Each Wednesday, the CTE teachers meet to discuss how their classes are doing and what things they need to do with the Perkins Grants.
“Our CTE meetings are broken down into a couple things,” technology and robotics teacher Mr. Joel Hayano said. “One is the Perkins stuff, so we have a lot of things we have to do during the year for Perkins to justify that we did. And then we also have our collaboration time for the school, where we have stuff we do in school.”
Retired culinary arts teacher Mrs. Denise Laursen took on the job of becoming the contract labor advisor for the Perkins Grant at Powell High School.
“Quite a few years ago, probably five or six years ago,” Laursen said. “I decided to go ahead and take on the Grant because I feel it’s really important to Powell High School to be able to get this Grant, to be able to get what we get. So when I retired… the whole CTE team kind of panicked and said, would you please be willing to do that?”
Annually, the CTE teachers are required to go through the process of identifying their program’s needs and formally applying for the Grants needed to support their classroom.
“Denise Laursen and Tammy Schiermeister are instrumental in helping us complete the CLNA (Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment) requirement of the Grant each year,” family and consumer science and healthcare teacher Mrs. Kandi Bennett said. “Without them, it would be almost impossible (in my opinion) to get the Grant completed each year. There are individual Grants that teachers can write, and they are also very intensive and require a lot of work and hours to complete.”
All of the CTE teachers unanimously recognize that Mrs. Laursen is a key figure in the success and management of the Perkins Grant.
“Denise Laursen actually does pretty much all of the work, and she gets paid out of the Perkins Grant to do the Grant writing for us,” Mr. Mike Heny said. “So we just provide input on things that we want and justify why we need it and how it’s going to help kids improve their skills, [and] be up to date with career technology.”
The Perkins Grant is foundational in our Career and Technical Education. Mrs. Laursen provided some historical background on how it got started.
“Perkins Grant was created in 1984,” Mrs. Laursen said. “The reason it was created basically… We need people who work in the trades… that don’t require a four-year degree… A gentleman who was in the national legislation by the name of Carl Perkins, he’s the one that said we need to start putting money into career education.”
Each CTE program utilizes the Grant in their own way to help promote student career readiness.
“The benefit is our Perkins funding can pay for students to get…certifications,” Mrs. Bennett said. “For the Family and Consumer Science Education and Training Pathway, students who complete the Pathway can earn POST subs training and ability to get Wyoming PTSB (Professional Teaching Standards Board) Fast Track Substitute Teaching Certificate and the lifetime Para Pro Certification. For the Healthcare Pathway, students can get American Heart Basic Life Support Certification and partner with Northwest College to earn CNA certificates.”
Though the Perkins Grant can pay for certifications across all the pathways, they can also pay for other specific things in the classroom.
“Basically, everything we have is from Perkins,” Mr. Hayano said. “So the drone class, all the drones come from Perkins, and our robotics three and four classes, we upgraded all that stuff with Perkins money.”
“Over time, we’ve been able to buy a lot of equipment and software,” Mr. Heny said. “I think all of our new cameras were through Perkins, the large-format printer, and the drawing tablets that we use. We use it a lot for equipment that the school doesn’t have the money to buy in the budget. So it helps supplement a lot of the things that kids get to use in that way. And then the simulation that I run for personal finance has also been purchased with Perkins, I think, for the last probably 15 years.”
So, next time you see Perkins written on the equipment, remember to thank Carl Perkins and Mrs. Laursen for the enriched educational opportunities we receive at Powell High School due to their hard work and dedication to make CTE superior.
