Cashmere High School visit showcases career pathways and student leadership

CASHMERE — Over coffee in a small front office meeting space at Cashmere High School, administrators walked visiting school board members through slides outlining student participation, academic performance and school programs before beginning a tour of the campus.

Principal Craig MacKenzie, joined by Deans of Students Megan Carlson and Andy Groce, presented data and updates on the school’s programs as part of a series of walkthroughs organized by the Cashmere School District.

Members of the Cashmere School Board — Chair Aaron Bessonette, Vice Chair Nick Wood, board members Sara Pipkin and Aaron Lowers, and Superintendent Glenn Johnson — visited the school Feb. 27 to observe classrooms and learn more about how district initiatives are being implemented at the high school level.

During the presentation, administrators reviewed a range of statistics covering academics, discipline and student involvement. Slides highlighted participation rates in extracurricular activities, grade point averages and academic progress among multilingual learners, along with data on attendance and discipline trends.

MacKenzie said the information helps staff track both academic performance and the overall experience students have at the school.

After the briefing, the group stepped out briefly to hear a violin performance from student Abigail Kim, who played a piece as part of her independent study work in music.

The performance provided a quiet interlude before the group began a broader tour of classrooms and career-technical education spaces across the campus.

Career and technical student organizations

The first stop focused on Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs), where students presented information about programs connected to the school’s career pathways.

CTE Director Rebecca Swanson introduced students representing several organizations, including Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), Future Farmers of America (FFA), the Technology Student Association (TSA), agricultural mechanics and health occupations.

Students described how the organizations combine leadership development with hands-on learning connected to classroom instruction. Some of the presentations included:

• FCCLA students spoke about their work in the organization and the kinds of leadership and career exploration opportunities it provides.
• Abigail Kim, who had performed on the violin earlier in the day, is also the president of FFA, and told the board about her program, including the Grand Champion sheep she raised for last year’s Chelan County Fair.
• Students from the school’s agricultural mechanics program, Kyla Carlson and Sydney McIver showed slides highlighting a bedside table they have been building as part of their welding coursework.
• Health occupations students Ella Gemeinhart and Kat Hansch also spoke about their program and the types of health-care careers it prepares students to pursue.

Students had also prepared food for the presentation, offering fruit along with bacon and Gruyère egg bites as board members and administrators listened to the presentations.

Horticulture and greenhouse work

The tour then moved to the horticulture classroom led by teacher Rusty Finch.

Finch demonstrated how students take plant cuttings to create new starts, explaining the process used to propagate plants and the tools students use to prepare the cuttings.

After the classroom demonstration, the group stepped outside to the school greenhouse, where students were working hands-on with tools preparing plant starts and tending to greenhouse plants.

Mr Finch, the students, and the staff were all very excited for the upcoming plant sale, which draws customers from all over the Cashmere Valley.

Economics in the classroom

In the business education classroom of teacher Trevor Kert, the visiting adults briefly became students.

Kert invited board members and administrators to participate in a Kahoot! quiz covering economics concepts and business terminology, turning the lesson into a quick competition between the adults in the room.

The game quickly developed a clear leader, with Rebecca Swanson answering questions rapidly and finishing well ahead of the others.

Welding and shop programs

The tour then moved into the school’s wood and metal shop areas with instructor Jed Odenrider.

Students demonstrated a wide range of projects and techniques using hand tools, power equipment and computer-assisted machinery across the two shop spaces.

Carlson and McIver again showed the bedside table they had been building, this time in the welding area where the metal components of the project were being fabricated.

Around the room, students worked at different stations cutting, shaping and welding metal while others operated equipment used for precision work.

Johnson pointed out several pieces of machinery during the tour, noting that the equipment available in the shops allows students to work with tools and techniques that are not always available in smaller programs.

Health occupations training

The final stop on the tour brought the group into the school’s Health Occupations classroom, where students practiced clinical skills using medical training equipment.

One group worked with a lifelike training model designed to simulate a human leg, practicing suturing techniques on artificial skin used to teach wound care. The model can simulate bleeding for certain exercises, instructors explained, though it was not in use during the visit.

Elsewhere in the room, students demonstrated additional tasks used in the program’s medical training curriculum.

At one station, students conducted an eye exam, inviting Superintendent Glenn Johnson to sit for a quick test while classmates looked on and laughed as the results were read aloud.

The room was busy with activity, with several groups working simultaneously on different health-care skills and simulations.

The exercises offered board members a glimpse into the hands-on training students receive as part of the school’s health careers pathway.

The visit gave board members a chance to see how the programs discussed earlier in the morning translate into hands-on learning experiences across the campus.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media