February is Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month in the State of Texas. Through CTE, Muleshoe High School students are able to go beyond general career knowledge to hands-on experience and training. In Katie Palmer’s classes, they are learning about agriculture and livestock production. They are also learning job skills and the application process, focusing on their areas of interest. In Child Development, lifelike dolls are programmed to simulate a real baby’s needs.

Principles of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources

Students are currently wrapping up a lab where they germinated lima beans in Palmer’s classroom. Having the ability to adjust water levels, light levels and temperature allowed them to customize their experiments. They are now growing okra and radish under grow lights, monitoring their growth daily. Recently, they began learning about GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and different soil types.

Livestock Production

This class is learning about beef and dairy cattle management and the techniques required to care for these operations. They all were able to gain their beef cow/calf producer certification through Beef Quality Assurance in December. In class, they began with ear tagging, notching and tattooing, and moved on to castration, dehorning, vaccines and blood draws. They are now learning how to judge both beef and dairy cattle and basic facility operations.

Investigating Careers

This class is currently building a Career Portfolio they will be able to take with them throughout high school and even after they graduate. They are learning about resumes, interviews, job applications, skills and requirements for certain careers. Each student selected a job that they were highly interested in and are completing a research project over the chosen career. From salary and required hours to job description and schooling, they are investigating every aspect of the career and keeping it all in their portfolios.

Child Development

The Child Development class recently finished learning about pregnancy, prenatal care and labor, which led to their completing their RealCare baby projects. This project consists of a lifelike doll being sent home with the student for a weekend, Friday to Monday. The doll is programmed to operate like a real baby would. The doll cries when hungry, needs frequent diaper changes, has to be burped, has to be rocked when upset, and needs attention and care to be kept happy. The computer generates a grade based on the students’ care and attention given to the baby over the three days.