{"id":10767,"date":"2023-03-20T08:58:59","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T12:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=10767"},"modified":"2023-03-30T11:31:24","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T15:31:24","slug":"50-years-of-tech-cellence-at-the-vb-technical-career-education-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/50-years-of-tech-cellence-at-the-vb-technical-career-education-center\/","title":{"rendered":"50 Years of \u201cTech-cellence\u201d at the VB Technical & Career Education Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>– by David Schleck<\/p>\n

Nearly 40,000 VBCPS 11th<\/sup> and 12th<\/sup> grade students have taken advantage of the career-training opportunities available through Tech Center programs since the school opened its doors in September 1972.<\/p>\n

To celebrate 50 years of \u201cTech-cellence,\u201d the Tech Center will host an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 29, for all students and staff both past and present. Guests will have the opportunity to walk the halls, visit old classrooms or workstations, catch up with old friends and colleagues, and meet current staff and students of the Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center<\/a>. Please call 757-648-5850 for more information.<\/p>\n

Students launch successful careers after studying at the center and many are returning to teach the next generation in the skilled trades. At least eight current instructors were Tech Center students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome having folks come back home,\u201d says Tech Center Director David Swanger.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Back when they were students<\/h2>\n

Charlie McDaniel, a member of the Tech Center\u2019s first graduating class in the early 1970s, said his masonry teacher, Herbert Smith, was a great motivator whose slogan was, \u201cIf you have a trade, you have it made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Auto body instructor Tony Wilson remembers his teacher, Henry Robinson, telling him, \u201cYou\u2019re going to be someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students get to travel across the state and the country to attend conferences and test their skills against other young talent, said plumbing teacher Will Beaton, who trained at the Tech Center 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved my time here,\u201d said cosmetology instructor Joanna Marhalik. \u201cIt helped me get through high school.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center faculty members recently gathered to talk about what brought them back as teachers. Pictured, from left, are Will Beaton, Joanna Marhalik, Daniel Ramos, Jimmy Bruce, Caretta Galloway, Charlie McDaniel and Tony Wilson. Not pictured, Joe Santos.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why they returned<\/h2>\n

Joe Santos started teaching at the Tech Center in 2016, more than 30 years after he learned welding in the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cA friend who worked here at the center reached out to me,\u201d Santos said. \u201cI thought about it for six months, and I love the decision I made.\u201d<\/p>\n

HVAC instructor Daniel Ramos received a call from his former Tech Center teacher, Melvin Woolard,\u00a0 asking him to consider the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI assumed I would be teaching one of these days,\u201d said Ramos. \u201cMy family encouraged me even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony Wilson said he had a special kind of recruiter.<\/p>\n

“This profession picked me,” he said. “It’s what God picked me to do in my life.”<\/p>\n

Auto service instructor Jimmy Bruce said he taught adults during his career, but he prefers teaching teenagers who are interested in the field.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>What they want their students to know<\/h2>\n

Charlie McDaniel teaches his students to take pride in their workmanship. \u201cThis is a career, not a job,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Joanna Marhalik wants students to know they have to work for what they want. \u201cNo one is going to hand it to them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Caretta Galloway said she wants to make sure her cosmetology students know there\u2019s more to it than trying to copy what they see in YouTube videos.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a difference between a hair stylist and a cosmetologist,\u201d she said. \u201cI believe with teaching the true art and benefit of cosmetology, it will help the younger generation gain more of an appreciation for the art.\u201d<\/p>\n

The skilled trades are in extremely high demand, said Ramos, who was Virginia Beach\u2019s 2021 Citywide Teacher of the Year<\/a>. \u201cThe wages are going higher and higher,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you want to get paid, this is the place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Santos wants students to leave the program with confidence, knowing they have skills that make them easily hirable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell my students all the time that if the powers that be came in and told me I could no longer do this, I would pick up the phone and be working the next day,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to give them that sense of security.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Swanger, who has directed the center for nearly 19 years, said, \u201cThe dedication of the students, faculty and staff is a winning combination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something special about this place \u2013 where people go into the workforce and become highly successful at what they do, and then they return here, \u201c he said. \u201cThat tells you they loved this place as a student.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– by David Schleck Nearly 40,000 VBCPS 11th and 12th grade students have taken advantage of the career-training opportunities available through Tech Center programs since the school opened its doors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10767"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10878,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10767\/revisions\/10878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}