Carbon Career and Technical Institute’s Adult Education Program has received a $3,750 donation from the Jim Thorpe Rotary Club to be used to cover the cost of the GED test for lower-income students.

Administrative Director David Reinbold said, “This will pay for over 100 tests, over the span of a couple years.”

He also noted that this is Rotary’s biggest donation to the GED program yet.

CCTI program is funded by a federal literacy grant through Lehigh Carbon Community College.

Through these funds, CCTI offers adult GED classes free to the community. Offerings include day and evening classes at CCTI, evening classes at Lehighton Area High School and at Carbon County Correctional Facility. CCTI serves 64 participants per school year. The program also offers support service through our instructors to reduce barriers and help with transitioning to reach lifelong goals

In other news, CCTI senior Desaree Decowski had a special opportunity to demonstrate her research and presentation skills at a summer program. Decowski was one of only 36 students who participated in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Summer Institute in Tennessee, where she worked on a research project about climate change.

She said of the experience, “You make real-life friendships. I have a group chat with over 40 people on it, and we still talk every day. You just make such a great bond, even though (the program) is only two weeks.”

The special education department sponsored a Summer Math Program for 8-10 students last July.

The participating students, who received free transportation to and from the program, T-shirts and snacks, saw “a 10-25% increase in (math) skills and concepts,” according to facilitator of special education Christine Trovato.

This is only one of many new projects sponsored by the special education department. Trovato mentioned multiple teacher trainings and new parent and community outreach initiatives.

The board approved two major buildings and grounds projects: new piping for the welding technical area and the installation of a new chemical fire suppression system in the auto/collision repair technical area.

Chad Obert and Andrew Yenser were not in attendance; Stephen Holland stood in for Yenser.