Giving students skillsets they can use in not only their careers but transfer into their lives is a goal of Michelle Meadows, the new director of Career Pathways and Workforce Development at Homewood-Flossmoor High School.

Meadows, who started in her new position July 1, comes to H-F with a wealth of experience in career training. She most recently was executive director of a consortium for education for employment of which H-F was a member with Rich Township High School District 227, Bloom Township High School District 206, and Crete-Monee High School District 201-U. The consortium enables H-F to tap into state and federal grants for career and technical education. That job familiarized Meadows with H-F and its programs. 

“I’m really happy to be back at the building level as director of Career and Technical Education (CTE), simply because I can help make changes happen” that she couldn’t do in her executive director role, she said.

There are four components to CTE that Meadows plans to focus on: 

• Keeping skills learning strong.
• Emphasizing work-based, hands-on learning through internships, etc.
• Having strong student organizations in specialty areas.
• Developing advisory boards of specialists that can offer information on what’s trending in industry and mentoring/interacting with students.

Meadows knows H-F has had a strong emphasis on academics, but she is glad H-F has for decades offered auto mechanics, culinary, fashion design, graphic design, childcare, business and computer science courses and the Project Lead the Way pre-engineering program. 

Meadows recognizes CTE courses have “high academics in them. The difference is that in CTE they teach students skills and knowledge but make (academics) applicable, so the kids know how it’s relevant.” When students ask: Why do I need to know this? CTE demonstrates how math or language arts or other academic subjects relate, she said.

As workers in the trades are retiring, the pendulum is swinging back toward an emphasis on training workers, but Meadows doesn’t believe it has to be one objective or the other.

“I think I need people to know career tech courses that are offered are not just for students who are non-college bound. College-bound students can also take career tech courses,” she stressed. “Lots of skills students can learn out of here (CTE). (They will) be able to use those later and all through life. “

For example, Meadows said students can learn skillsets in tech ed and do side jobs to earn money that can help pay for college. 

In her new role, Meadows will work to put an emphasis on career pathways and making certain H-F’s higher level CTE courses give students dual credit. 

“Ideally, I’m going to work that all the classes should be dual credit. The reason being that if you can have a student who graduates with dual credit, they have college credit. They can go on for an associate’s degree or certificate,” she said.  Even if a student isn’t interested in college, they have college credit that may help them move into supervisory work or a different area in their field.

Meadows believes a dual-credit path “is a confidence builder. I did it in high school, surely, I can do it now, and they may not be so hesitant to go for the associate’s degree.”

She also will put an emphasis on students earning certifications that match industry standards.

H-F will give students “a base of knowledge to get started, and it’s like a launching pad. They can start there and then go on,” Meadows said.