Our Portage Public Schools students are doing amazing things everyday in our classrooms and beyond!
February is Career and Technical Education month and we want to shine a spotlight on our talented students. Follow along with us this month as we highlight the high school students enrolled in a variety of CTE programs designed to help prepare them for their future careers.
For Mason Dowell, spending a year helping in his old teacher's classroom was a no-brainer.
The senior at Portage Northern High School is enrolled in KRESA's Educator Academy. In his final year of high school, Mason spends his afternoons helping in a 7th grade English class at Portage West Middle School.
Betty Bianco, his mentor teacher, was his favorite instructor as a 7th grader himself at West and is now helping him learn the craft of teaching.
"I chose Ms. Bianco as my mentor teacher because she made me fall in love with English and with teaching in general," Mason said. "She's seriously one of the best teachers I've ever had, and the kids in the class are awesome. They're incredibly smart, and I always get amazed being around them and learning so much from them."
Mason hopes to take what he learns in KRESA's Educator Academy and apply it to working in ministry with young students. He will attend Hope College this fall and has his sights set on earning his Doctorate Degree and becoming a professor.
To learn more about the KRESA-based CTE programs available to students, visit www.kresa.org/cte.