Girl Scouts From Across the Region Attend CRTC Equity Event

Almost 60 Girl Scouts from across southern New Hampshire came to the CRTC on Saturday to earn their Woodworker, Car Care or Entertainment Technology badges as part of a CRTC Equity event aimed at introducing more girls to STEM opportunities.

CRTC Construction Trades, Automotive Technology and Computer Engineering programs coordinated with the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains to organize this event that drew Girl Scout Troops from as far away as Exeter, NH. Carrie Green, the Regional Director of Girl Leadership Experience praised the event saying that the partnership with the CRTC helps to promote the STEM focus that is becoming a hallmark of the modern Girl Scout organization.

“We are so grateful that the CRTC has given these girls this kind of opportunity,” she said. “This is a wonderful partnership that I’m hoping can continue beyond this event.”

Twenty-seven fourth and fifth grade girls worked with Computer Engineering teacher Lisa Marcou, learning some basic computer skills to build game apps and develop simple computer animation sequences. Construction Trades teacher John Hubbard hosted sixteen sixth, seventh and eighth graders in his program, where they spent the morning building bird houses. And Automotive Technology teacher Scott Mayotte spent the morning teaching a dozen ninth and tenth graders how to check tire pressures and engine fluids, research automobile performance and safety rankings, and change flat tires.

The CRTC is continually looking for ways to attract nontraditional by gender students to its programs in order to ensure both student diversity and equal access to the multiple career fields students prepare for here. Events such as this Girl Scout badge workshop help to both engage younger girls in STEM-related career activities and expose them to the career pathway opportunities available at high school CTE programs across the state.

CRTC Programs Take Students Beyond the Classroom to Explore College and Careers

CRTC Programs Take Students Beyond the Classroom to Explore College and Careers
By CRTC Equity Coordinator David Moore



One of the advantages of a CRTC education is the opportunities students have to get out of the classrooms to meet industry professionals and explore different college and career environments.  Last week students from four CRTC programs took daylong field trips to a variety of locations from a wastewater treatment plant to a state university theater workshop event.

Auto Technology teachers Scott Mayotte and Jesse Gregoire took nearly 100 students to the Auto Technology College and Career Fair at Nashua Community College last Thursday.  The event, cosponsored by the New Hampshire Auto Dealers Association, featured both a question and answer session with a panel of NH Community College System and automobile industry representatives, and a series of hands-on booth activities that included a motorcycle riding simulator and a collision repair paint booth.  “The kids were really engaged in the event and asked a lot of questions,” said Auto Tech teacher Jesse Gregoire. “This kind of college and industry connection activity helps the students to map out the pathway to where they want to go in this industry.”

Students from the Computer Engineering program toured the Prototek Manufacturing Company in Contoocook on Thursday.  Prototek is a 46,000 square foot high tech CNC machining facility that features automated, state of the art welders and milling machines to produce a variety of steel, stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, copper, and brass parts for a variety of uses.  “Trips like this give me the opportunity to show students that the programming skills they are learning in my program have global application in a variety of industrial settings,” said Lisa Marcou, who runs the CRTC Computer Engineering Program. “What these kinds of field trips really do is set students up for success by exposing them to a wider world before they leave high school.”

The Construction Trades program spent two days last week touring both the Concord Water Treatment Plant and its wastewater treatment plant. “Most kids come into this program thinking about building a house,” said John Hubbard, Construction Trades teacher. “What we’re trying to do is expand their knowledge about the construction industry so that they have the experience to broaden their worldview to consider the variety of careers available to them in this industry.”

Fifteen students from the Theater Technology class traveled to Plymouth State University last Friday to attend a series of theater-related workshops sponsored by the NH Educational Theatre Guild.  Students spent the day learning about lighting, stage management, theater makeup, and a variety of skills featured in the more than 25 workshops held that day.  “By exposing students to these snippets of the industry, we are helping them to better understand and experience the variety of career choices available to them,” said Clint Klose, Theater Technology & Design teacher. “Our goal is to take the lessons beyond the classroom so that students make better choices when they graduate.”

CRTC Director Steve Rothenberg said that field trips such as these are essential to the Career Pathways approach used at the CRTC.  They introduce our students to industry and postsecondary worlds, providing the most authentic experiences to help students refine their own personal college and career vision.

All Girls Garage

On Wednesday, six Concord High School girls visited Banks Chevrolet in Concord as part of the CRTC's / 21 C six-week All Girls Garage after school program. Female students participating in the field trip met and spoke with a variety of industry female mentors from auto techs and service writers to front end managers. All Girls Garage ran weekly from October 11 through November 15, and students learned the auto maintenance basics from how to change their oil to important items to check when buying a used car.