LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Inside the Byron Martin Advanced Technology Center, students are getting a head start on careers while they\u2019re still in high school by taking part in programs focused on Career and Technical Education.<\/p>\n
As executive director Amy Baker says, there\u2019s plenty of options for students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWelding and automotive and electrical programs to culinary, AV production, health science, graphic design, cosmetology,\u201d Baker said. \u201cYou name it and there is something that will help produce a strong employee for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of those strong future employees is Tony Maldonado, who takes part in the electrical program within CTE and will soon be working for Larcon Electric. He says being able to work inside this program for the past three years has allowed him to develop his craft before starting his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does give us a head start and a lot of communication, especially being able to work on a job site,\u201d Maldonado said. \u201cIt\u2019s completely different than just sitting in a classroom all day and learning about text. That\u2019s the nice thing about this program is we get hands-on learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnna Wilkins, part of the pharmacy technician program, is also seeing how Career and Technical Education is making in impact on her life while also showing employers they should take a chance on youth here in Lubbock.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith these programs that the ATC offers and all that, I think we become more mature,\u201d Wilkins said. \u201cOur teachers are like y\u2019all are going into the real world, y\u2019all are going to clinical\u2019s, y\u2019all are doing this and that. We have the certifications, we have the hands-on experience, we know what y\u2019all want, and our teachers really conditioned us for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
As these students get ready for what lies ahead, Baker says CTE is truly making a difference in west Texas and looks to do so for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s impactful for our parents and it\u2019s impactful for our kids, it\u2019s impactful for our teachers,\u201d Baker said, \u201cbut it\u2019s really impactful to our community and surrounding areas here in Lubbock.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Inside the Byron Martin Advanced Technology Center, students are getting a head start on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-285164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}