Gov. Bullock visits Columbia Falls High School

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock visited Columbia Falls High School on the first day of school last Thursday.

The visit was part of Bullock's "College and Career Readiness" back to school tour. Bullock said there are two reasons for the tour.

"One of which for the students to make sure that education stays relevant and engaging to them, but from the greater perspective to ensure that, as we look forward in the state of Montana, we have talented and trained workers," he said.

Student council president Sadie Panasuk, vice president Hailey Greene and secretary Emily Getts met the governor and gave him a short tour of the school, focusing on the career center and industrial workshops.

Bullock is interested in the school because it has the most opportunities for concurrent enrollment across the state.

The one-year-old concurrent enrollment program provides college credit for high school classes taught by high school teachers. The high school offers welding, CAD, accounting, certified nursing assistant training and other medical classes, business communications and math courses.

Classes in the medical field are especially popular for students, school counselor Linda Kaps said. Some students in these dual credit courses get CNA and welding certificates before they graduate from high school and some use them to get summer jobs.

Students taking college courses while in high school saves on college tuition, Bullock said.

"It's getting them engaged on that path for career readiness, or college completion. We know that students that take college classes while still in high school, much more likely to actually matriculate-go to college-much more likely to graduate on time and their GPAs are higher. We also know that-as we saw here today-students are getting certificates - that isn't something abstract. This you can present to an employer and get a much, much better job."

Bullock also toured the industrial workshops at the school while learning about the triad building trades program. The program, started last year, teaches building skills along with technical math and English. Two of the classes, technical math and building trades, also give students college credit.

Kaps explained that the triad program is for students who need more hands-on learning. Geometry may not make since in a classroom, but give a student a tape measure and a saw and "it makes all the sense in the world," she said.

The program provides "practical application" of the skills learned in the classroom, she said. The English course provides necessary skills of writing a business letter and resume.

"We can look back a year ago and we have record high school graduation rates, but we're still losing students. And we need to make sure that education is relevant to them and the opportunities to actually gain some real world skills while still in high school will keep a lot of these students engaged and will make sure that they graduate," Bullock said.

At the end of the visit, industrial arts teacher Ken Stone presented Bullock with a wood plaque in the shape of Montana commemorating his visit to the school. Bullock bent his head down to smell the fresh cut wood. The plaque had been created within a half hour using an automatic carving machine while Stone showed Bullock the industrial arts classrooms.

"We know that in the last two and a half years high school students getting college credits over doubled in the state of Montana, and we need to continue that, because for so many students, a high school degree won't be enough," Bullock said.

On the back to school tour Bullock also visited Havre, Helena, Dillon, Bozeman, Missoula, Great Falls and Bigfork.