If you spend two decades growing high school CTE and business programs by 30% year-over-year, you start to notice patterns. Not in spreadsheets… but in students.
Here’s the blunt truth: kids are bored in school.
Not because they aren’t capable. Not because they don’t care. But because what we often call “learning” doesn’t look anything like the world they’re actually preparing to enter.
And when you give them something meaningful?
They explode with potential.
Over the years, I borrowed a play out of MBA programs — bringing in real companies, real professionals, real problems — not watered-down case studies or multiple-choice tests. The results? Courses filled up faster than we could schedule them.
Students weren’t memorizing. They were doing.
They weren’t chasing points. They were creating value.
They weren’t afraid to fail. They were fearless because failure became feedback, not punishment.
And guess what?
Parents noticed.
Communities noticed.
Businesses noticed.
That’s how programs grow.
Here’s what I’ve learned from building programs that students actually want to be a part of — the kind that lift entire communities.
What I’ve Learned Building High-Growth CTE Programs
1. Students are starving for relevance.
If the work doesn’t feel connected to their lives or their future, they tune out. When it does connect? They sprint.
2. Real-world problems beat textbook scenarios — every time.
When students work on challenges from real companies, their engagement skyrockets. Authenticity always wins.
3. Put students into the work on Day 1.
Stop with the front-end curriculum overload. Let them get messy early. Reflection can come after action.
4. Failure is a teacher, not a threat.
My most successful courses normalized failure. Students grew fearless — and requested even harder challenges.
5. Community partnership isn’t a “nice-to-have.” It’s the engine.
When businesses show up in classrooms, everything changes — relevance, rigor, recruitment, and opportunities.
6. Parents become your biggest champions when they see their kids doing meaningful work.
They talk. They advocate. They help build momentum.
7. Teachers thrive when they stop being content deliverers and start being coaches.
This shift frees educators to do the work they actually came into the profession to do — guide, mentor, and empower.
8. Programs grow when they matter.
If a course doesn’t challenge students or lead to meaningful outcomes, enrollment drops. It’s that simple.
9. Students want to contribute right now — not someday.
Give them opportunities to build, solve, create, and serve in the community, and they rise to it.
10. The classroom isn’t enough — and never has been.
When learning spills into businesses, nonprofits, labs, and real environments, students start to understand who they are and what they’re capable of.
Here’s the bottom line.
Kids today aren’t “different.”
They’re just tired of being asked to learn in ways that don’t reflect the world around them.
When you challenge them with meaningful, experiential, community-connected learning?
They don’t just grow.
They thrive.
And entire communities thrive with them.
If we want programs to grow, we can’t keep teaching like it’s 1995.
We have to build learning experiences that matter — to students, to families, and to the future workforce.
And when we do?
The growth takes care of itself.
