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Locust Grove High School

Locust Grove High CTI
Recognizes Veterans with Display

Locust Grove High represented CTI well by raising $1754.00 in support of CTI with the Falcons. Of which $500.00 goes directly to the CTI program. We had a Great Time in the process!

Locust Grove High starts career programs

By Johnny Jackson

jjackson@henryherald.com

School officials are attempting to drum up community support for academic and career-training programs at Locust Grove High School.

Locust Grove opened last month with more than 800 students, and several school-level programs to start. Among the programs are the school's newly established Career, Technical & Agricultural Education (CTAE) and Career & Technical Instruction (CTI) programs.

"The CTI Program is one of the newest and probably most unfamiliar programs in the county," said Philip Starke, Locust Grove's CTI coordinator and instructor.

Starke said the CTI Program, formerly known as Related Vocational Instruction, primarily serves students with disabilities in order to help provide them with job-entry skills through academic and hands-on training.

"This program has been around for a number of years, however, very few people know anything about [it], or the reason it exists," he said. "Nevertheless, this worthwhile program needs to become a common term due to the population it serves and the benefits associated with its continuation."

Locust Grove currently has 25 students enrolled in CTI classes, said Starke, who spent the past two years as Stockbridge High School's special education department chair before joining Locust Grove's CTAE Department.

Starke said his goal is to nearly double the number of students enrolled in the class this year. He also plans to take CTI students to various leadership conferences later this fall.

"I'm trying to get the community aware of what we do here," Starke said. "No program can be successful without the support of the community that houses it."

Career-tech programs provide practical applications for academic learning in various program areas, said John Uesseler, CTAE coordinator for the Henry County school system.

Uesseler said the school system's CTAE programs offer curricula in several areas, including agri-science, business education, drafting/engineering, early childhood education/food and nutrition, health care science technology, public safety and broadcast video.

"To get the community involved into the career-tech programs is very important," said Uesseler. "You really can't have a functioning career-tech program without the community