What careers will Aspen Peaks students pursue five, 10 or even 20 years from now? A new state grant is giving Aspen Peaks the resources to explore that question and build career and technical education pathways around the needs of its students and the changing workforce.
The APEX Center Planning Grant
In July, Aspen Peaks was awarded $282,277 through Utah’s Applied Professional Education Experiences (APEX) Center Planning Grant. This grant was awarded to only eight other education agencies this year. The funding will allow the district to spend the coming year researching community workforce needs, evaluating existing programs and partnerships, and determining which career pathways will provide the greatest benefit to students.
The APEX Grant Program is designed to help Utah school districts and other local education agencies create or expand profession-based learning centers that connect classroom education with real-world experiences and workforce needs. The planning phase is particularly important because the state prioritizes programs that are informed by labor-market data, developed with industry and postsecondary partners, and designed to avoid unnecessary duplication of existing resources.
For Ryan Nield, Aspen Peaks’ director of CTE, the grant represents an opportunity to slow down and make informed decisions before making established choices.
“We didn’t feel like we were ready to jump straight into implementation,” Nield said. “This planning year gives us an opportunity to take a deep dive into what’s sustainable, what’s economical, what industry actually needs, and where we may already have services available through partners like MTECH and UVU.”
What Could an APEX Center Look Like?
That research will be especially important as Aspen Peaks determines which career pathways it should preserve, expand or create. Alpine currently has more than 32 CTE pathways, but changes brought by the district split means there is an opportunity to reestablish what the communities see a need for.
“We’ll use this year to study the data, listen to our students and industry partners, and then, at the end of the year, use what we’ve learned to determine which pathways we want to grow."
Nield sees three possible models that Aspen Peaks could adopt. One possibility is a CAPS-style approach, where students work directly with industry partners on real-world projects. Another is a magnet-school model, with existing specialized programs at particular schools. A third possibility is a centralized APEX Center where students from multiple schools could access specialized pathways such as transportation, construction or engineering.
The district’s research will help determine which model or combination of models makes the most sense.
Keeping Pace with a Changing Workforce
That emphasis on careful planning is particularly valuable in CTE, where workforce needs and technology can change quickly. Nield pointed to the evolution of coding as an example. A decade ago, coding was a rapidly growing field, prompting schools to invest heavily in coding programs and recruit teachers to meet the demand. The emergence of artificial intelligence, however, has dramatically changed the nature of the field.
“In fields like technology and CTE, things are constantly changing,” Nield said. “The challenge is creating pathways that can adapt and remain relevant as the workforce evolves.”
For Nield, that is also what makes CTE so exciting. Unlike subjects that focus primarily on established academic concepts, CTE takes those concepts and puts them into practice in real-world industries.
“CTE is where we take the application of it all and actually implement it,” Nield said. “We take what students learn and show them how they can use it in different industries. That’s what’s exciting about CTE.”
The APEX Planning Grant gives Aspen Peaks the opportunity to build on that vision with purpose. Rather than investing resources in programs simply because they appear promising, the district can use data, community input and industry partnerships to determine where those investments will have the greatest impact.
Ultimately, the goal is to create sustainable pathways that prepare Aspen Peaks students not only for the jobs of today, but for the evolving opportunities of tomorrow.