MARSHALL — Even after Marshall Public Schools opened its new Career and Technical Institute, new educational opportunities have continued to take shape for students. This week, it was announced that the Marshall CTI was one of six schools that were awarded grant funds to support career and technical education programs.

MCTI, in partnership with Carlson & Stewart and Bend Rite Fabrication, received a $15,000 LYFT Innovation Grant. The grant funds will be used to purchase a virtual welding simulator to support the advanced welding classes at the CTI.

“We feel this is going to be a great opportunity for our students,” said Amanda Pederson, assistant principal at MCTI. “They get more of a hands-on practice before going to the actual (welding) project.”

MCTI will also continue to work with community partners like Carlson & Stewart and Bend Rite, Pederson said.

“Those opportunities for our kids are huge,” she said.

Launch Your Future Today (LYFT) Career Pathways is a career and technical education initiative in southwest and west central Minnesota. LYFT was launched in 2018 with a legislative grant secured by the Southwest West Central Service Cooperative.

Over the past six years, LYFT Career Pathways has funded projects impacting more than 20,000 students in the region, said Eriann Faris, CTE project coordinator at SWWC. There’s been both a strong need and lots of community support for more career and technical education in southwest Minnesota, she said.

“CTE is really working toward workforce retention,” Faris said. In addition to building connections between young people and local industries, hands-on CTE learning also gives students a head start on developing needed skills and experience.

“They’re also identifying careers they might not have thought about before,” Faris said.

This month, LYFT announced that six applicants were awarded a total of about $80,000 in grant funding. In addition to Marshall CTI, recipients included a partnership between Yellow Medicine East and Renville County West High Schools, Hills Beaver Creek High School, Ortonville High School, Luverne High School and Jackson County Central. Other grant projects will help support instruction in

YME and Renville County West’s partnership received a $15,000 grant to provide hands-on learning about Augmented Reality (AR) technology and career opportunities. Other area grant projects will support learning in career paths like welding, fabrication and construction.

CTE projects receiving Innovation Grants needed to help students get more exposure to careers or build hands-on work skills, include collaboration with one or more businesses or industry partners, and align to area career opportunities.

Pederson said the idea to invest in a virtual welder came after the Big Ideas Mobile Learning Lab visited Marshall Middle School in 2021. The mobile lab had a virtual welding station that was a big hit with students.

Having a welding simulator available in Marshall will be useful for students in the advanced welding courses at MCTI.

“They would have the opportunity to practice the different welds,” while saving on materials, Pederson said. The virtual welder could also be used to help assess students’ skills as they enter the advanced class, she said.

Working together with Carlson & Stewart and Bend Rite will also continue to be important for the advanced welding program, Pederson said. Through classroom and job site visits, local businesses help Marshall students learn firsthand about career opportunities in the welding field.

It was exciting to see the level of support the Marshall area community has shown for career and technical education, Pederson said.

“Schools and communities should be working together to support the community,” she said.