HUNTINGTON -- Ryan Egan sincerely doubts he would be enrolled in the masonry and plumbing program if the career technical center was not part of his home high school, Spring Valley.

The senior said the inconvenience of traveling and increased graduation requirements would probably discourage him and many other students in Wayne County.

"If it wasn't across the street, I wouldn't have the chance to do it," Egan said.

High school students at Spring Valley, Tolsia and Wayne all don't have to make that decision. All three high schools are comprehensive, meaning they all have a career technical center that offers a variety of programs.

Each school has nine programs, and according to the this year's enrollment figures, students are enrolled and earning experience that will lead them into post-secondary training or a job, plus skills that will help them in life.

But it hasn't always been that way in Wayne County. Spring Valley's technical center, located just down the road from the high school, was once the primary center in the north part of county. Another was built in Fort Gay, known as the Southern Vocational School, which is now part of Tolsia High School. Both started receiving students in 1982.

Tolsia High school was the first comprehensive high school in Wayne County when it opened in 1996, with Wayne and Spring Valley following in 1998.

"In the past, this facility was the only center in Wayne County," said registered nurse and health occupations instructor Kellie Cyrus, who has been teaching at Spring Valley for the past five years. "Now, we're filling it up with just the students from Spring Valley."

The health occupations program is available at all three schools, based on the low cost of the program and high demand for workers in the field. This year, there are nearly 300 students combined.

The ProStart Restaurant Management, Office Administrative Support, E-Business Publishing and Computer Literacy also is offered all three schools.

Other programs are spread out among the high schools to provide fair coverage in the county. Wayne County's director for career technical education Sandra Pertee said the setup Wayne County has undertaken serves the students and communities the best.

"I think we had a vision in this county that has proven to be correct," Pertee said. "Today, in our society, more and more people are realizing that career technical education is an opportunity for a majority of our students."

Pertee cited numerous research and reports that are indicating technical skills are in demand and growing at a faster pace than four-year degrees.

"The message we are trying to get to our parents and students is that four-year degrees are wonderful, but the jobs out there are demanding students come from technical education," she said. "We try to help our career technical education students realize how vital they are to the economy."

In Cabell County, the technical center is a stand-alone campus serving students from Cabell Midland and Huntington high schools, as well as adults and the community. Enrollment, though, is no where near what just one Wayne County high school has in its programs.

Cabell education officials have been trying for years to get numbers back up, but the increased graduation requirements, coupled with students losing a period of the day for travel time, make it difficult for students to get involved. And, if a stereotype remains about students in technical education, that also can become a hindrance.

However, students say that is not a problem in Wayne County.

"Stereotypes used to exist," Egan said. "But that isn't the case anymore."

Even Cyrus said the schools are so integrated -- dual credit English classes and a history class are taught at Spring Valley's center -- that it really is just one high school.

But comprehensive high schools aren't cheap. Pertee said it is an initial investment to provide programs, but there is savings in transportation costs. More importantly, there is a huge value to providing as many students as possible with the opportunity enroll in a class or program.

"You can have the greatest career tech center, but how many students are being served," she said.

The schools' career tech coaches agree. Day in and day out, they see hundreds of students taking steps toward their next futures. Without comprehensive high schools, that wouldn't be happening.

"This allows students who otherwise wouldn't take a (career tech) class a chance to take get a sample," said Hugh Roberts, the coach at Tolsia.

Roberts is a 1989 graduate of Wayne High School, at a time when students from his school had to travel to Spring Valley. For him, that was a roadblock he couldn't overcome.

"Looking back, I wish I would have taken some of the classes," he said.

Now, as the construction instructor, he said a county-wide center also wound hinder the amount of students that could even be enrolled. With a maximum of 20 in a building construction class, he said he has no doubt some students would be turned away if they were coming from all three schools.

There is a downside, said Roberts and Spring Valley's career tech coach Jim Hensley. Students don't get the same amount of time they would at a county technical center, but neither would trade what they have for extra time.

"I think they would benefit from more class time, but I still think we have the best setup," Roberts said.

Students, none of which know what the old system of traveling for a half-day of technical education was like, are happy that the local and state officials invested in them. Spring Valley senior Leah Edwards, who is in the health occupations program, said she is sure she wouldn't have traveled to a central center, nor is she sure she would have even been as informed about what programs were available.

"I would not have known what I wanted to do without this program," said Edwards, who plans on taking the certified nursing assistant test after she graduates in May and pursuing a bachelor's degree from Marshall University.

Chris Harris/The Herald-Dispatch

Tanner Lovins ties classmate Olivia Clark's gown during a Health Occupation course Thursday, December 19, 2008, at the Spring Valley High School Technical-Academic Center.

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