Chisholm Trail Technology Center continues to widen its reach - both in programs and in school districts.

Thomas-Fay-Custer voters overwhelmingly approved a proposition on April 4 to have that school district annexed into the Chisholm Trail Technology Center district.

“We were just looking to provide more opportunities for our students for some different career paths and different options,” said Thomas-Fay-Custer Superintendent Rob Friesen.

Friesen, the former superintendent at Okarche, reached out to the likes of CTTC and Western Technology Center in Burns Flat searching for those opportunities.

Friesen and his board of education toured CTTC in late October 2022 and passed a resolution to join at the November meeting.

CTTC’s board approved adding Thomas into the fold during its December meeting and then the state’s CareerTech board did the same in February.

That set up the April election for the Thomas voters, one in which Friesen admits he wasn’t positive about the outcome.

“Usually when you’re asking to raise taxes, people don’t get real excited about it,” he said.

But Thomas voters passed the resolution by a 247-68 count, or 78 percent approval.

“It turns out a lot of people were really open to the idea,” Friesen said.

It becomes the fifth school district to become a part of CTTC, which was formed in 1987.

When originally built, it served students in Kingfisher, Watonga and Lomega.

Dover was annexed in 2014 and now Thomas-Fay-Custer has become a part of the mix.

“When a district annexes in, it is a win-win for the school district and CTTC’s district,” said CTTC Superintendent Kurt Thomas.

“The new public school district gets access to what has been built since 1987. And, with the increase of students through adding another school and the addition of another tax base, CTTC is able to justify adding programs and resources available to CTTC’s district.”

The technology center originated with five programs.

It is now up to nine and will soon add a 10th as the construction of a new building to house an electrical trades program is set to begin in August.

Thomas said it should be completed by 2024.

That will be in addition to the automotive, cabinetry, computer repair and networking, cosmetology, digital technologies, health career, practical nursing, pre-engineering and welding programs already in place.

Thomas noted CTTC has also recently added a CDL training site in Watonga.

One of the selling points for Friesen was the fact CTTC will offer some of its program - welding and digital technologies - to TFC students….in Thomas.

“The fact they’re going to put two programs at our place was a huge benefit for us,” Friesen said.

Thomas said the benefits are even greater than that.’

“Their students and adults will get immediate access to CTTC programs and will be able to start in August,” Thomas said. “And the district benefits from our business and industry services as well. Within 24 hours of passing the resolution, CTTC business and industry employees were meeting with businesses, working on training needs.”

The demand for CTTC’s programs and services, Thomas said, is high and he only expects that to grow.

He provided statistics that show 62 percent of American high school students attend college and, of those, only half complete a degree.

“Only 30 percent of high school graduates are completing college,” Thomas noted.

Those same statistics show only 18 percent of those who do complete a degree use that degree for the job they choose.

Hence the value in the training and coursework that CareerTech centers like CTTC provide, Thomas said.

“More and more students are choosing CareerTech education,” he said, noting that 40 percent of all juniors and seniors in CTTC’s district attended this year.

That number, he said, should grow.

“We expect record numbers next school year at CTTC, which is a credit to the support of our sending- school counselors and administration as well as the quality of CTTC’s programs,” Thomas said.