Soda Springs High School getting massive Career Technical Education expansion

Soda Springs High School has won a $370,000 grant that will be used to greatly expand the school's Career Technical Education (CTE) programs.

With construction set to begin later this spring, project plans include a brand new 90 foot by 40 foot building featuring a two-bay auto shop, 16 welding booths as well as the addition of the school’s first-ever dedicated woodshop, all hopefully operational by the spring of 2025.

For Soda Springs school board member Alan Erickson, the news that the high school received an Idaho Career Ready Students grant couldn’t be better.

“This is huge,” he said. “We’ve got so many kids that would go into the trades…. You can support your family very well as a welder, as a plumber, as an electrician…. In any of those trades, you can do very well.”

It's a subject he knows a thing or two about. Erickson entered the world of construction as a part-time job in college and quickly gravitated toward the high sense of satisfaction he felt after seeing a project take shape. That satisfaction as well as his skills have grown measurably through the years, causing Erickson to now proudly exclaim, “In my wildest dreams, I never thought I’d be where I’m at today living in a home I built.”

Erickson admits that he struggled to grasp certain concepts until after high school. And he still wonders what it would’ve been like to get a head start on the career he ultimately found to be so fulfilling.

Fortunately for incoming students at Soda Springs High School, there soon will be nothing to prevent them from getting a head start of their own.

Soda Springs CTE teacher Colter Evans is a longtime proponent of the trades and recognizes the huge advantages to be gained by having a larger classroom.

He said, “The biggest problem we have now is space and time. So we have the time to do what we want to do but we don’t have the space to do it. Or if we have the space to do it, we don’t have the time because then we have to put everything away and get ready for the next class.”

Space constraints create strict limits on how many students can safely take classes at one time, and Evans says they turn away students every year in spite of the urgent need for more skilled workers in the trades right now both locally and statewide.

In spite of the challenges, Evans and Soda Springs High School Principal Jess McMurray have found a way to allow as many students as possible to enroll in CTE courses, where the skills they gain are immediately put to work, filling needs in the very community where they live.

One such project was to repair a teacher’s porch that caved in during the “snowpocalypse” of 2023.

Another job for a local family in great need was completed this past November. It was a project which, from start to finish, was student-led.

“We were able to go during class and reroof a house,” said Evans. “We put on new shingles to get them set up for the winter. That was awesome to be a part of. The kids did awesome work, took full ownership of it, ordered what they needed to order, got everything done for that project.”

It's the type of learning environment that McMurray dreamed of ever since becoming a principal.

“This is education at its best,” said McMurray. “Kids see the value that’s inherent within these new classes, but it's also seeing the value in helping other people…. They’re learning construction skills, but they’re also learning to help others in the process…. These things that they learn, they’re gonna use for the rest of their life. It's education in its purest form.”

With the upcoming CTE expansion, it's the type of education that’s only going to get better, not only by allowing more students to participate, but also by allowing experienced stake-holders to get involved more than ever before.

Evans is particularly excited about the possibilities presented by allowing more collaboration between students and master craftsmen, stating “The new addition is gonna allow us to go from being jacks of all trades to actually becoming masters. We are gonna be able to get certificates in welding, HVAC, autotech…. We’re gonna have people come in and teach capstone classes…. We’re finding guys with 20 to 30 years experience in the field to come teach kids those skills and pass that experience down to them so they start further ahead than they would have.”

Evans expressed his gratitude for Principal McMurray and his vision for the trades, stating “(McMurray) has really jumped on board into the trade programs. He understands that even if these kids aren’t going to college, if we’re helping them get a certificate, that’s still furthering their education and setting them up for success. I think he’s got a great vision for our community and our kids.”

Echoing those sentiments was Erickson, who stated, “As a school board, we are excited about our CTE program and where Jess is taking it…. I think when you tell a kid, ‘You’ve got what it takes to do whatever you want to do,’ then we’ve got to provide a way for them to do that, a vehicle to get there. Whatever your dream is, you can get there and we’re gonna help ya.”

For future Soda Springs High School students wanting to enter the trades, it looks like they'll have all the help and space they’ll need.