PIKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Students in Bledsoe County High School's vocational and technical classes might miss the half-hour break they got in the 20-mile round trip to the Chattanooga State Community College campus south of town.
But they admit -- and their teachers applaud -- the fact that there's more time to learn in a brand new Career and Technical Education wing on the front of the high school's campus.
Class time this year went from 60 minutes to 90 minutes, and rather than a bus ride, students walk a few hundred feet to the new building, CTE director Steve Reel said Thursday.
CLASS NOTES
Bledsoe County Career and Technical EducationOpened: Jan. 5, 2015Director: Steve ReelSquare footage: 30,250Number of CTE teachers: 7Number of CTE students: Approximately 400Source: Bledsoe County Schools
With more class time, the number of daily classes was reduced from four to three.
The building houses trade and industry areas including automotive, agriculture, carpentry and electric and welding classes. A new health science curriculum has been added along with a specialized classroom, Reel said.
Computer classes and some of classes formerly in the more crowded high school are there, too.
About 400 Bledsoe County students are enrolled in CTE classes. Paths of instruction include agriculture, marketing, welding, building trades, automotive technology and business technology.
Large, standard classrooms, complete with built-in overhead projectors, line the east side of the building, while across the hall, smaller classrooms are attached to spacious shops where equipment moved from the Chattanooga State campus is set up, Reel said. He said a little more equipment will round out some shops, but all the machines are operational.
There are 50 computers in the building' 25 in the business classroom and another 25 on a mobile cart that's available to all teachers, he said.
Students were busily working away on Thursday. In carpentry teacher Jay Frizzell's class, some students were putting the finishing touches on projects, including one who was refining a turkey call.
In Imogene Roberson's business communications class, senior Katie Morris admitted she misses the break she got before with the bus trip to the old vocational center south of town.
"But you get to learn more because you get to finish what you've been talking about," Katie said of the 90-minute class periods.
Reel said CTE's welding program "is probably our number one job feeder."
Welding teacher Kris Frady said vocational and technical students are needed in industries across the region.
"The Local (Plumbers & Steamfitters) 43 in Chattanooga and a couple of places over in Cookeville hire them," Frady said. "Kids learn by doing projects and they don't even realize they're learning. We've had some pretty good success."
As projects, welding students build trailers, hay spears and even large smoker grills that cheerleaders sell to raise money, he said.
Agriculture teacher Ronny Collier said he likes the move back to the campus in Pikeville.
"It's centrally located to the high school," he said. "That makes it easier to do other work with students here."
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.