The New Pittsburgh Courier has learned that state funding for Career and Technical Education programs, vo-tech education and apprenticeships has risen from $118 million to $183 million over the past three years, according to data from the Shapiro-Davis Administration (Gov. Josh Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis).

The administration said since Gov. Shapiro took office in January 2023, 3,000 more students statewide have enrolled in vo-tech and CTE classes as a result of the financial investments.

Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Career and Technical Education program has been getting high marks of late, regularly graduating more than 100 students per year from its program. Altogether, the CTE program has 17 areas of study, including its new “Emerging Educators,” tailored for students interesting in exploring teaching as a profession.

Lieutenant Governor Davis had nothing but smiles on his face as he met some of those CTE students in his own backyard at Pittsburgh Westinghouse Academy, April 6. He took a tour of some of the CTE classrooms at Westinghouse, such as carpentry pre-apprenticeship and health careers technology. He was blown away at the “tiny house” that the CTE students built, which sits just outside Westinghouse. Tiny houses are the new craze these days, enabling people to live in a space that’s usually no more than 400 square feet, and the price of the home oftentimes isn’t going to run past $150,000. A person could get a tiny home for as little as $30,000.

“Housing is a huge issue we’re trying to address in the commonwealth,” Lt. Gov. Davis said as CTE student Joshua Gainer (carpentry pre-apprenticeship) stood nearby. “Having (people) that know how to build those things (tiny houses) pretty quickly is going to be huge. We’re going to be talking about how do we increase our building of houses over the next couple years.”

In addition to Gainer, Lt. Gov. Davis met CTE students like McKenzie Rogers (health careers technology), Lauren Dick (emergency response technology), Ayden Pride (business administration, sports and entertainment), Kaleb Boyce (culinary arts), Riley Dickey (cosmetology) and Janiah Hambrick (engineering). The students discussed how their particular CTE program has helped them progress in their careers so early in life, and the benefits of being placed at a work site while still in high school. As an example, Rogers makes an hourly wage already by being partnered with UPMC.

“I like this program altogether because it just teaches you a lot about nursing,” Rogers said during the April 6 roundtable discussion prior to Lt. Gov. Davis’ tour of the Westinghouse CTE facilities. “I’ve always known I wanted to help people when I was younger.”

“This pre-apprenticeship/partnership has given students the ability to see the potential in themselves that we often see before they ever realized it,” added Tom Bender about the CTE student, Joshua Gainer. Bender is council representative for the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.

“We have worked with Westinghouse’s CTE for numerous years…it’s phenomenal that you were able to get your National Registry Emergency Medical Technician certification,” Pittsburgh EMS Chief Amera Gilchrist told CTE student Lauren Dick. “And the fact that these students are tasked to also go to school while they’re getting these additional certifications is phenomenal. I had the pleasure of interviewing Lauren almost two weeks ago, and I must say you guys did a great job. She came in my office dressed to the nines…very impressed and blown away by this young lady.”

The lieutenant governor also learned during the hour-long event at Westinghouse that the CTE carpentry pre-apprenticeship students will be headed to the NFL Draft site near Acrisure Stadium on April 15. “They’re going behind the scenes to see the stages being built and be a part of that process to see how what they do in their classroom actually relates to work in specialty events that come into our city and how they can be a part of that,” revealed Pittsburgh Public Schools’ CTE director, Angela Mike.

“I want you to block out the noise and stay focused on what you’re doing in the programs that are happening in Pittsburgh Public Schools,” Lt. Gov. Davis told the CTE students, who numbered about 20 at the roundtable event. “There are truly amazing things happening and that’s in large part to the teachers and administrators that you have here that work every single day, so congratulations on all the great work you’re doing and I can’t wait to see the great things that you’re going to do as you all graduate and go off into your careers.”