BRIGHTON – The sunlit atrium of Brighton High School’s brand new STEM and Career and Technical Education center served as the perfect backdrop to welcome dozens of design, architecture and construction industry professionals for a recent tour of this state-of-the-art building as part of the Association for Learning Environment’s CTE Symposium in Denver.
“People really were interested in how the STEM and CTE center was placed in between existing buildings and how we were able to incorporate such extensive programming into such a condensed and landlocked area,” said Mae Ann Saas, tour organizer and Director of Client Relations for Eidos Architects.
Brighton High School Principal Shelly Genereaux welcomed the group and gave a brief introduction before participants were split into two groups for the tour. They visited all the classrooms in the new building along with the renovated welding and automotive areas in the original building. The culinary students even had the chance to show off their cooking skills by making and serving cookies fresh out of the oven to the tour groups!
“You hear so frequently, ‘If you can see it you can be it’. I think seeing these programs in full swing and sharing the successful collaboration stories between schools and local business show how these programs are not only successful for the schools, but ultimately make businesses and the community function more completely,” said Saas.
Seeing the students at work in these new spaces also gave these industry professionals more insight into the benefits of offering diverse programming at the high school level.
“Having the CTE programs peppered throughout the school encourages participation in a myriad of pathways. Students who perhaps saw themselves on a path to higher education may learn there is another alternative they enjoy more and vice versa,” said Saas.
The Brighton High School STEM and Career and Technical Education center was constructed thanks to voters’ support of the 2021 Bond.
