SOUTH COUNTY — Students from King City, Greenfield and Soledad high schools are strengthening their career and technical education through South Coast Region Agricultural Education Consortium.
The Consortium receives grant funding through the California Careers Pathways Trust Program and allows the high schools to implement iCEV, a career and technical education online learning platform from CEV multimedia.
“The South Coast Region Agricultural Education Consortium is charged with enhancing the Agriscience and Agricultural Mechanics pathways,” said Erin Gorter, program director. “The underlying concepts are to develop career technical skills in the areas of agriscience and agricultural mechanics.”
Students are able to earn industry-backed certifications in different areas, such as principles of floral design, professional communications, fundamentals of animal science, veterinary medical applications and plant science. The certifications are backed by companies such as Southwest Airlines, Bayer CropScience, Elanco and many others.
“The students were excited when they heard about the certifications and we have seen an increase in their involvement as a result,” said Lauren Peterson, agriculture teacher at King City High School in a news release.
Gonzales High School chose not to participate in the South Coast Region Agricultural Education Consortium when the grant application was submitted.
