Career and Technical Education

Greetings,

As we close out the month of September, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the hard work and dedication you’ve shown in shaping the future of our students. Your commitment to providing them with the skills and knowledge they need for successful careers in technology is truly commendable.

September marks the beginning of a new school year, filled with fresh opportunities for growth and learning. It’s a time when your impact is immeasurable as you ignite excitement and passion within your students for the fields of technology and innovation.

As you reflect on the month, consider the milestones you’ve achieved: the projects completed, the new skills mastered, and the engagement fostered in your classrooms. Each lesson you deliver not only enriches your students’ understanding but also prepares them for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in their careers.

Remember to take time to celebrate your achievements, both big and small. Share successes with your colleagues and consider ways to collaborate and inspire one another as we move forward in the school year. Your creativity and resourcefulness are vital in making technology education relevant and impactful.

Looking ahead, let’s keep the momentum going. Remember to continuously work on your state compliance requirements. You should be working toward the following:

• Program Required Safety Tests
• Lesson Plans
• CTSO Membership, Officers, and Program of Work
• 1st Advisory Committee Meeting
• Industry Credentialing

Best regards,

Zac

Toyota announces $4.2 million in grant money for Huntsville schools

It’s part of the Driving Possibilities initiative founded by the Toyota USA Foundation with additional funds provided by Toyota North America and Toyota Financial Services. Toyota Alabama previously invested $6.7 million to the school district through the initiative, which brings its total investment in the local school system to nearly $11 million.

“This funding is aimed to expand the quality of STEM education and create strong pathways to high-tech, in demand STEM careers,” said Marc Perry, president of Toyota Alabama.

“This funding is aimed to expand the quality of STEM education and create strong pathways to high-tech, in demand STEM careers,” said Marc Perry, president of Toyota Alabama.

The investment will fund a STEM coordinator for the school district to help identify technology needs and new curriculum. “The coordinator will work with a team of STEM coaches across six elementary schools and two middle schools to enhance learning by integrating those critical science, technology, engineering and math concepts,” Perry said.

Perry said Toyota is also collaborating with a local nonprofit called Caring Link to open Care Closets in 10 Huntsville City Schools. The closets will provide teachers with access to new clothing, school supplies, toiletries and snacks to help students’ needs. “Personally, I understand how impactful these closets can be,” Perry said, saying his daughter was a passionate elementary school teacher at an under-resourced school spending money out of her own pocket to give her students a better experience. Perry said the closets will “close the gap and provide students with stuff we take for granted, essentials.” Toyota is also funding training sessions to be provided by Second Mile, a local nonprofit, to increase parent engagement.

Perry said Toyota is also helping foster critical STEM skills development by funding Greenpower USA cars for 10 schools, creating manufacturing and project management experience for students.

He said the funding will increase students’ manufacturing and project management experience.

“This is helping us transform our opportunities for our students,” said Clarence Sutton, the superintendent of Huntsville City Schools. “We’ve already seen the impacts of the very first Driving Possibilities announcement made in August of 2023. With your support, our talented management team expanded our teacher mentoring programs, which kept our retention rates high and gave our new educators the support they needed to thrive.”

The initiative also supported the creation of a new industrial tech program at the recently opened Huntsville City Schools Center for Technology, which Sutton said allows students to work with the equipment that prepares them to work for Toyota and other major manufacturers in the area, “preparing themselves for in demand careers.”

“For nearly 25 years, Toyota Alabama has been an incredible part of our community — not only assembling engines — but building opportunities and opening new career pathways for our students,” added Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle. “This generous investment continues to close educational gaps, and we are grateful to Toyota for their commitment to educating Huntsville’s future.

Toyota Alabama currently employs 2,400 at its motor manufacturing plant in north Huntsville.

Toyota Alabama President Marc Perry

Students work at Huntsville City Schools' new Career Tech Center in North Huntsville

Our Additive Manufacturing program has begun the installation of its first Markforged hybrid 3D printer. This system offers multi-material capabilities, ranging from stainless steel to nylon reinforced with continuous carbon fiber, enabling both functional prototyping and end-use part production. The addition of this technology will expand our students’ exposure to advanced manufacturing processes and industry-grade additive techniques.

This month, we’re excited to feature the Ninety-Nine Boutique, a dedicated partner in our HCS Work-Based Learning program for four years in a row. This year, junior Kinsley McAnally and senior Harper Edstrom of Grissom High School are gaining valuable co-op experience as part of the boutique’s team. The owner, Sarah Sanderson, was inspired to create her business after realizing she had the skills to streamline operations and the vision to build something of her own. For her, entrepreneurship is about independence, creativity, and resilience. For our co-op students, The 99 is more than a workplace. It’s a learning space where they strengthen problem-solving, teamwork, and customer service skills – leaving with confidence they can carry into any career path.

Here's what's been going on in HCT Welding since starting the school year in the new Career Technical Education Center!

On August 7th we invited the lead welding instructor, Matt Jones, from Calhoun Community College to speak to all our classes about the welding industry and the advantages of taking dual enrollment welding classes. This year, HCT has a total of 55 students enrolled in dual enrollment.

All of our classes are now working at least 4 days a week in the welding shop. They have learned how to operate the cutting torch and power tools and are working mostly independently now. We have also had our welding students sign up for their OSHA class and online welding theory work.

We have spoken to each of our classes about SkillsUSA and have achieved 100% enrollment for the SkillsUSA welding program. 15 students will be competing in the advanced welding competition and 6 for the welding sculpture competition. As well as students competing in leadership competitions.

HCT is looking forward to accomplishing all other projects that we have planned for the students this school year!

The Health Science interns Grissom High School stepped up in a big way by volunteering at The Goldton at Jones Farms Health Fair on Tuesday, September 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. Not only are these students giving back to the senior living community, but they are also bringing unique skills as licensed patient care technicians. The students did blood pressure and BMI screenings as well as served as buddies to the residents.

The Health Science Interns have been busy the month of September providing Pre-K Health Screenings for Huntsville City Schools. The students have been visiting the feeder-pattern schools and performing BMI and blood pressure screenings.

The GHS HOSA Officers proudly represented Grissom High School at the ACE Leadership Conference in Florence, Alabama on Thursday, September 11. They participated in leadership training sessions, networked with other HOSA leaders from across the state, and gained valuable skills to guide and inspire the GHS HOSA chapter throughout the year.

The HHS HOSA Officers attended a leadership conference Thursday Sept. 11, 2025 in Florence and had a great time learning and doing leadership!!

I am pleased to share that our JLAB Leadership Team was formally recognized by Dr. Sutton and the Huntsville City Board of Education for their outstanding achievement.

Over the summer, the Lee/NCT JROTC Cadets competed in the National Level JROTC Leadership & Academic Bowl in Washington, D.C. The competition featured 40 elite teams, selected from eight ROTC brigades under the United States Army Cadet Command—representing the top 2% of all JROTC programs nationally and internationally.

Our team earned an impressive 5th place overall!

Please join me in congratulating the following cadets for their hard work, dedication, and leadership:

• c/LTC Carlton Schantz

• c/CPT Frank Schantz

• c/CPT Aayan Quadri

• c/CPT Caleb Durda

This is a proud moment for our school and community—well done, team!

9/11 Remembrance Ceremony

This one-day program is designed for chapter leaders to gain the leadership and officer skills to effectively lead their CTSO programs at the local chapter level. Chapter leaders and advisors from all CTSO’s gather in Florence, AL to network, share best practices, discuss ideas, and grow their leadership.

Lee/ NCT JROTC Color Guard had the honor of presenting the National Colors at the Trash Panda Military Appreciation Saturday Night.

The General Battalion had our Sept Cadet of the Month Board and our Promotion Board for Sept. Attached is a photo of cadet KatherineThames, our Cadet of the Month winner for Sept 2025.

Also, attached is a photo of the following cadets that went and meet the promotion requirements and therefor promoted to the rank of:

Cadet Cameron Shumam promoted to c/SFC

Cadet Lizeth Neri-Perez promoted to c/CPL

Cadet Amber Ruffin promoted to c/CPL

Let's give these cadets a round of applause for their commitment to excellence.

Future in Focus, our CTE FACS students designed vision boards to set goals and stay motivated.

Banking on Creativity- students designed their own financial institutions and brochures while learning about saving, spending and investing.

On September 11, 2025, 19 SFJROTC cadets from Huntsville High School traveled to Florence, Alabama, to participate in ACE (Academy for Chapter Excellence). ACE is a one-day program open to CTSO leaders such as State officers, JROTC, HOSA and other CTE programs. It aims to aid leaders in learning the skills required to be successful in future work environments and while leading in their current positions. The lead speaker for the program was KD Wilson who spoke about bad decisions and owning up to them. Attendees said his words and stories were “very inspirational.” There were breakout sessions during the day that included leadership skills, officer roles, networking, goal setting, and fund raising. The students left the conference feeling smarter and they had newfound confidence.

Congratulations to the New Century Technology High School and Huntsville High School Cyber Capture-the-Flag (CTF) teams for a superb showing at the 2025 National Cyber Summit: Cyber Cup Challenge!

A total of 18 different teams in the Academic Division competed with teams being made up of high schools and colleges from across the entire United States including the University of Alabama, the University of North Alabama, the University of Alabama, and the University of South Mississippi among others. Teams had to use their cybersecurity sleuthing skills to solve challenges involving cryptography, packet collection, information snooping, infiltration, and data analysis along with other cyber and computer science skills to score points and beat the other teams competing within their division. The Huntsville City Schools teams certainly used their wealth of knowledge, information, and experiences gained from their CTE Information Technology: Cybersecurity and Infrastructure and CTE Information Technology: Computer Science classes to edge out the competition.

New Century Technology High School came in 3rd Place in the Academic Division with 13,000 Points and was awarded a $750 cash prize for their team.

Huntsville High came in 4th Place in the Academic Division with 11,624 Points.

The wheels are turning fast in the HCT Greenpower program this year with lots of exciting new things happening and a busy schedule ahead. First, Instructor, Chris Whaley, was awarded a STEDTRAIN grant for a proposal to build a carbon fiber monocoque chassis for a custom car. Next, the National Space Club invited Mr. Whaley to bring a small group of students to the Jackson Center on September 16, for a breakfast meeting and to speak about the Greenpower program. Henry Gray of Grissom High delivered a speech to an audience of 300 plus. Several connections were made that day and the class is scheduled to begin collaboration with both NASA and Calhoun Community College, regarding the carbon fiber project. Finally, GreenpowerUSA released the presentation rubrics for the season ahead and they will require an Engineering Design Project to be carried out for each team (car) competing. The Center for Technology will field 3 teams this season, requiring 3 separate Engineering Design Projects. The composite custom car build will serve as only one of those.

As always, students began the year with disassembly of the existing cars, but also, the Center received a new kit car from funding provided by Toyota of Alabama, and students were anxious to start assembly. The current plan is to assemble 3 cars to basic configurations and split much of our time between working on our Engineering Design Projects and gaining proficiency in SolidWorks, as students prepare for the certification exam in March.

Important Dates

October 6-10 Fall Break

Staying On Top Of Your Work

Attendance is important to maintaining academic achievement. With a little planning and follow through, students can avoid falling behind. One of the most important keys to academic success is attendance.

In addition, here are a few pointers for staying on top of classwork:

• Attend school every day!

• Routinely check the teacher’s Schoology for assignments

• Keep communication open with teachers and counselors

• Seek help if you don’t understand

988- Suicide and Crisis Hotline

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 24/7 call, text and chat access to trained crisis counselors wo can help people experiencing suicidal, substance use, and/or mental health crisis, or any other kind of emotional distress. People can also dial 988 if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.

On September 18th students from The Huntsville Center for Technology travelled to Alabama A&M to attend the Career Speed Networking Program, sponsored by the Education Equal Opportunity Group. The students participated in mock interviews, networked, and heard from Tracy Doughty, who is the President and COO of Huntsville Hospital. We dined in the Foster Complex’s Cafeteria on the campus of A&M before returning.

Email: zachary.mcwhorter@hsv-k12.org

Website: hcs.org/district/career-technical-education

Location: 2603 North Memorial Parkway, Huntsville, AL, 35810

Phone: (256) 428-7810