MSBSD Career and Technical Education Showcase featured at Alaska State Fair

The Mat-Su Borough School District hosted its annual Career and Technical Educational Showcase at the Alaska State Fair Friday, Aug. 30.

This annual event is an opportunity to highlight local CTE student talent and raise awareness about the vast number of opportunities present across various fields such as robotics, coding, digital media, and aviation technology.

Students from Academy Charter School, Colony High School, Mat-Su Career and Technical High School and Palmer High School participated in this year's event.

Several CHS robotics students interacted with visitors throughout the day and gave them the chance to control custom built robots.

"It's awesome its such a fun time. I love having the responsibility I shouldn't have," CHS student JT Gross said with a laugh.

CHS student Justin Jones said it's fun to see how excited children get when they get to play with their robots.

"It's awesome," Jones said.

Jones said this event is a great way to introduce them to robotics and the seemingly endless list of possibilities that comes with it.

"Robotics can be used later for all sorts of fun stuff," Jones said.

Gross said there's numerous benefits to being involved in robotics. He said one of the biggest benefits is how it strengthens one's general problem solving ability.

"I think robotics is a very good skill," Gross said.

CHS robotics teacher Katrina Nilson said this annual event is an enjoyable way of sharing students' talents with the community.

"They code 'em and they build' em from scatch," Nilson said. "It's a lot of fun. I like showcasing their hard work and the programs that we have."

Nilson said there's a lot of crossover each year with students participating in different schools' programs. She said there's a prevailing sense of encouragement among students and staff across the district.

"We work together to build these programs," Nilson said.

The MSBSD offers 32 different CTE programs blanketed under eight pathways, according to Nilson. She said that students gain a lot of knowledge by participating in these programs no matter what path they choose.

"I think this really teaches them to think outside the box," Nilson said.

MSBSD CTE Program Administrator Trish Zugg said the Fair is a great venue to reach a lot of people. She said that Fair's decision to move the events tent to the Purple Trail exposed them to even more foot traffic.

"We're always super excited to have that wide audience," Zugg said.

CTE education covers a broad range of topics and participating students can personalize their educational journey based on their interests, abilities, and unique learning styles.

Zugg said the MSBSD Career and Technical Education Showcase is a great way to help local families learn about the various CTE related resources that are available and how many different directions they can take.

"Just having an opportunity to field those questions that are still out there is super important to us," Zugg said. "This was super successful."

For more information about the Mat-Su Borough School District's CTE program, visit cte.matsuk12.us.