The newest magnet school in the Clark County School District, South Career and Technical Academy, will welcome its inaugural class in September. The class size will be smaller and open to ninth-graders to create a foundation for these students to grow with school. Within four years, the school is planning on accepting 1,700 high school students for all four grades to be offered.
The new school is being built around project-based learning, professional skill development and strong community partnerships. The curriculum will focus on preparing students for careers in high-demand industries through innovative, hands-on pathways, including cyberdefense, engineering and advanced manufacturing. South CTA operates differently from a traditional high school.
“We’re going to offer nine different programs. We’re excited that the state changed our CTE (career and technical education) programs, so we can now offer two-year pathways instead of only the traditional four-year pathway. We built our program so our students will have two different CTE pathways when they come to us,” said Pate Thomas, principal at South Career and Technical Academy.
There will be sports and entertainment marketing and students will begin with multimedia, learning the cameras, and then transition to a marketing program. There are also biomed and sports medicine programs.
“We worked with the city leaders and the people in the industries to identify which areas of the economy we need to ensure that we’re preparing students to enter those industries, and we really focused on the high-wage careers, not just jobs,” said Thomas.
Students don’t have to live in the district where the school is located since magnet schools are open to any student living in Clark County. However, there are some benefits to living in the neighborhoods where the schools are located.
“Our students typically go to Liberty, Silverado and Coronado high schools. Those are the kids that would get transportation to our school, so those are the ones that we have talked to the most,” Thomas said. “However, we have kids coming from North Las Vegas, Henderson and other neighborhoods in the valley. We want our kids to love the programs they sign up for, and that’s why we exist. The programs that we bring into our schools are the ones that most impact the surrounding communities.”
Students apply through a lottery system for two different kinds of programs with CCSD: interest-based and criteria-based programs. Students applying for the criteria-based programs fall under STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Interest-based programs, which are open to any student, include teaching, training and advanced manufacturing. These programs are developed to focus on careers.
“We hire teachers that have worked in the industry. I just met with our multimedia teacher, who worked at one of our local news channels. When I was at Southeast CTA, we met with a Strip resort about re-developing programs to teach about professional cooking, and they said we didn’t use enough woks. We didn’t realize that cooking Asian cuisine is very important, so we made certain to include that instruction in our curriculum,” Thomas said.
Magnet schools also offer after-school programs and extracurricular activities.
“Magnet Schools were created 60 years ago and have evolved into their own cultures. We offer National Honor Society, Student Council and intramural sports. Our Career and Technical Student Organization makes us stand out, and our programs are tied to a CTSO. Our students apply it to different competitions to build their resumes.”
Thomas started his career in CCSD as a substitute teacher at Canyon Springs High School in North Las Vegas. He then worked full-time at Southwest CTA and was promoted to dean. He then worked at Shadow Ridge and Southeast CTA and is now opening South CTA.
“We’re just excited to offer these programs in this community. SECTA was the first school established 60 years ago, and the alumni attending CTAs have been very successful. We are excited about building a school. Our goal is to make this school the strongest, most innovative school in the country,” Thomas said.
