By: Matt Wunderlin

Junior student Jase Brooks explains how having CTE programs at Willamette High School helped him find his passion.

 

Tucked away behind Willamette High School is a large, gray building with the only indication of what lies within being the small maroon sign to the left of the entrance reading: METALS LAB.

Jase Brooks, 17, visits the home of the Industry and Engineering pathway every day.

“I enjoy working with my hands to create something. Over winter break I built a cage for [Mr.] Hodgert to put our gas tanks in because they kept getting stolen.”

Brooks gravitates towards the shop, but it wasn’t his burning passion for crafting metal that led him to the metals lab.

During the winter of his sophomore year, Brooks was injured and forced to sit out of the remaining wrestling season.

Unable to workout, Brooks tried to make school his primary focus but found it difficult to enjoy his classes.

“I was taking a drafting class. We just sat behind a computer all [class] period and worked on daily assignments.”

A fellow classmate convinced Brooks to talk to Mike Hodgert, the head teacher Industry and Engineering program, and speak to him about taking a metals class.

“I went and checked out the shop and talked with [Mr.] Hodgert for awhile and he told me to try and make something and after I welded and went hands-on with a project I fell in love with metalworking.”

Without practice after school, Brooks decided to spend his time in the shop with Mike Hodgert, a man who searches for opportunities to captivate a student’s interest.

“Jase came in asking about the program and what the metal working classes offered and telling me how annoying the computer engineering classes were. I told him to come in after school and work on some projects, and now I can’t get him out.”

In a few weeks, Brooks and three classmates will put their skills to the test with a custom-built electric car that they will be racing against schools from around the state.

The electric car is an accumulation of everything Brooks, and his classmates learn throughout the term such as arc welding. While enjoying his time working on creative projects, Brooks feels as though the Industry and Engineering Pathway has helped him pave a road to a field of work that he strives to have as a career.

“I want to go into the military after high school and work as a metal fabricator for the vehicles. After the military, I want to get welding certifications and become a welder.”

Brooks entered the Industry and Engineering pathway unaware of all the possibilities for a career, but the opportunity to work with real equipment and real tools on large projects has helped him find his passion and plan for his future career.