The Local Advisory Council of the Carbon Career & Technical Institute held its fall meeting on Tuesday.

“The LAC is a mandatory requirement for all current tech schools in the state,” said Brent Borzak, Administrative Director at CCTI. “The whole point of it (LAC) is to strengthen the relationships between the current tech center and the community.”

Borzak said that a priority of the school coming out of COVID-19 was to increase socialization with the students and the staff. Some of the events were a chemistry/math camp, a summer camp, a fall festival, a safety week, and a mental health week.

The school offers a variety of clubs for students to socialize and to interact with the community. A 4-H Club is being discussed as a new club.

CCTI’s new Publishing Club will publish its own newspaper, which will be called “The Buzz,” a name chosen by the students. They are also taking over the school newsletter, and expect to have their first edition by Christmas.

The school is also planning a Career Fair for late winter or early spring. A new weekly column for the Times News will focus on students in the five participating school districts.

Borzak also said that the school is dealing with teacher shortages, which are also affecting schools around Pennsylvania. In 2010, there were 21,045 new teaching certifications granted in the state. By 2019, it was down to 6,937.

Borzak also told the group that technical schools still face old stigmas and stereotypes.

Despite that, he said, the school continues to grow. It graduated 101 students in 2022 and has 399 students enrolled in 14 programs now. He said most programs are at maximum capacity with 85 students on a waitlist.

He also said the school’s website will be redesigned soon.