Anthony
Raymond Barchanowicz made his career choice at an early age.
“I always knew I wanted to work in an
architectural field of some sort,” the 19-year-old says. “Ever
since the fifth grade I really liked designing houses.”
As Barchanowicz got older, he narrowed his focus to
computer-aided design (CAD).
“I used to draw up sketches at home, and then I
thought, ‘Let’s try computers,’ ” he says.
Cuyahoga Valley Career Center (CVCC) in Brecksville
helped Barchanowicz pursue his dream through its two-year tech prep CAD
program. After taking some CAD classes at his high school during his
freshman and sophomore years, Barchanowicz enrolled at CVCC.
“CVCC offers the job-training skills that the
other CAD classes didn’t offer,” he explains of his choice.
“CVCC actually teaches you how to interact with people and know the
lingo.”
Barchanowicz interned with GPD Associates, an
architectural engineering and planning consulting company in Akron, as part
of the center’s program, and was then hired full time as a CAD
technician when he graduated in June 2003.
Barchanowicz is just one of many success stories to
come out of Cuyahoga Valley Career Center. Since it opened in 1972, it has
continuously evolved to meet the educational needs of high school students
and adults in Northeast Ohio.
The center began with support from the state
legislature on the development of vocational education. Known then as
Cuyahoga Valley Joint Vocational School, its original goal was to help high
school students compete in the workplace.
“This was a real pioneering institution at the
time,” says Superintendent Roscoe Schlachter. “The goal was to
prepare students to enter the work force after high school.”
Today, high school enrollment has grown to about 900 in
the eight school districts the center serves. Adult programming serves
nearly 6,000 people each year and overall enrollment is expected to
increase 4.5 percent each year. With a total budget of $20 million, CVCC
offers nearly 30 high school programs and over 150 adult education courses
with 146 full- and part-time staff members.
CVCC serves as a career and technical education center
as well as a continuing education resource for those trying to stay
competitive in an ever-demanding work world.
“The center evolved because of a changing
economy,” Schlachter says. “We began to realize that many of
our students would need to have continuing education in order to compete in
the workplace.”
The need to stay competitive means that nearly half of
today’s CVCC graduates go on to college.
“Forty-eight percent of our students were in
college one year after graduation — having been in this business for
more than 28 years, that’s one of the more significant changes
I’ve seen,” Schlachter says. “In the early days at the
career centers, if 10 to 15 percent went on to college, that would be
normal.”
Barchanowicz began taking courses at Cuyahoga Community
College after graduating from CVCC. He is taking time off to keep up with
work demands, but plans to return to complete his degree.
Barchanowicz saw his education at CVCC as a good way to
explore what he wanted to study in college. He advises others to do the
same.
“They need to ask themselves what they are good
at and what they can tolerate for the rest of their lives,” he says.
“Don’t go to college without having some basis of what you want
to go into, because that’s just wasting money. I have friends who
didn’t address that, and they’re still working at low-paying
jobs and I’m making three times [what they make] already.”
The training that students like Barchanowicz get at
CVCC also helps area employers like GPD Associates, which partners with the
center.
“It’s sort of symbiotic,” says Kathy
Campbell, director of human resources. “We meet their needs and they
meet our needs.
“We’re able to give them an opportunity to
utilize the skills they’ve learned in the CAD program at Cuyahoga
Valley Career Center,” Campbell says. “They come very well
prepared, very mature, and they have a good handle on what they’ve
been trained to do. It’s a pretty good deal all the way
around.”
In fact, one of CVCC’s main goals today is to
help area companies train their work forces.
“We can retool the work force for
employers,” says Liz Puchowicz, district director. “We work in
partnerships with businesses in the area to provide the training they need
to keep their employees current.”
The center’s job placement office helps students
find jobs once they’ve completed the programs.
“There’s high demand for our
students,” Puchowicz says. “They’re very well qualified.
We provide a great service to Northeast Ohio and make a significant
contribution to the strength of its work force.”
One training area where the center has excelled is
computer training.
“During the 1980s, we established a computer
training niche within our communities and continued to evolve our
programming to meet their technology needs.”
William Caine, 18, chose Cuyahoga Valley Career Center
to explore his love of computers. While his interest in computer technology
began simply as a hobby, Caine decided to explore it as a career option and
enrolled in CVCC’s programming and software development program in
2002.
“I’ve always been interested in computers
and I heard they had just started the courses at CVCC so I went in and
looked at it,” says Caine, who graduated in June 2004. “I
figured that even if I didn’t want a career in it, it would be
something to know. The program is really good, even if you don’t go
into it as a career. Computers aren’t going anywhere, so you’ll
know more than you’ll ever need to.”
Caine was an intern at The Sherwin-Williams Co. in
Cleveland during the last part of the two-year program at CVCC, and now
works for the company in computer programming while pursuing a four-year
computer programming and software development degree at Cleveland State
University.
Caine describes his experience at the center as
invaluable.
“It teaches you things you’ll need in the
real world,” Caine says. “It’s really worth going there.
They have so much to offer. You can learn a skill and use it as a part-time
job, even if you’re not [ultimately] going into that field.”
As Cuyahoga Valley Career Center continues to grow, it
remains committed to turning out a well-educated and competitive work
force.
“I always like to think there’s more than
one way to help students and adults succeed,” Puchowicz says.
“For both populations, we offer many options that can allow
individuals to advance to the next level of success.”
To employ CVCC students or graduates, contact the job
placement coordinator at (440) 746-8260. •