In a drafting and design classroom at Newton North High School on a cloudy Thursday afternoon, a student named Hayden Hannon shows a computer image of The Breakers, an historic Rhode Island mansion. He’s been working for three months on creating the image as virtual reality, with adjustable panorama views, using state-of-the-art Lumion software.

“Lumion has been working good,” he said. “We’ve had some problems over the past few weeks, but it’s working well.”

In many communities, a student graduates from eighth grade and then goes to the local or regional public high school or a trade and technical school. In Newton, students all go to the public high schools and then students can opt into special Career and Technical Education programs.

Students can try out a program and then decide whether to stay with it for the remainder of their high school years.

“There’s more flexibility for kids to come into the CTE program and then say, ‘I’m not sure that’s for me,’” Kathleen Duff, director of Career and Technical Education for Newton schools, said. “But the idea is to have the kids follow through the program until the end of senior year, because senior year is really when absolute magic happens.”

Newton North High School’s Career and Technical Education includes a carpentry program in which students build a small house. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

A longstanding legacy

Typically, students enter the Exploratory Program in ninth grade, sometimes tenth. It works like taking electives. Students study the basics of math, English, history, etc., as well as career courses in whichever CTE program they’re considering. Then, if they stick with their chosen programs, the CTE coursework increases through senior year.

Students take core classes (math, history, science, etc.), and they take the MCAS, and they get a regular diploma. The CTE programs serve as electives would, and they get more intense with each year a student is in them, but they still have to meet state and federal education requirements.

“They do everything a regular high school student does,” Duff said.

And the career and technical school is not new.

“Newton Public Schools have had Career and Tech Ed for over 100 years,” Duff said.

There are even photos hanging in one of the hallways showing students working on the earliest model cars in the CTE auto shop in the 1920s.

“Newton’s always been very much on the forefront of smart education and being very student-centered and focusing on their needs,” Duff said.

Kathleen Duff has been director of Newton’s Career and Technical Education for eight years. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

The CTE programs fall under the framework of Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 74, which is much more involved than a normal high school shop class. For example, Newton South High School has a woodshop class, but in the CTE carpentry program, students have to build an entire tiny house because the Chapter 74 framework requires that.

“If we were a regional vocational, we might work on site at a bigger home, but here we do a mini type house,” Duff explained as she made her way past an auto repair class in session.

In a small TV studio down another hallway, TV Production student Raven McBride was sitting and doing some work.

“It’s amazing. There’s so much variety of what we can do, and there’s a lot of freedom,” McBride said. “As a Major 3 [highest level of the program] with three blocks here, I can take on extra projects besides our news show.”

Her extra projects have included multiple short films and an autobiographical video essay.

“I think the best part of it is that you get to experience a lot of different roles in the industry to know which one’s for you,” McBride said.

She doesn’t know what she’s doing next school year, but she’s applied to seven schools and has been accepted to one of them so far.

“You’ll end up where you’re meant to be, and you’ll be amazing when you get there,” Duff said.

Walking past the school’s Tiger’s Loft Bistro on that busy Friday afternoon meant lots of good smells as food was being cooked and served.

“Lot’s of good stuff,” Duff remarked.

Culinary students who run the cafe learn about all roles in restaurants—serving, cooking, preparing, cleaning—to get a comprehensive feel for the industry.

Students in Newton North High School’s Career and Technical Education drafting and design courses use state-of-the-art technology to learn skills of the future. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

Discovering oneself in school

Much of that “magic” Duff mentioned earlier comes from self-discovery and finding one’s place.

“The CTE experience is transformational for the kids, whether it’s because they’re finding a home in such a large school, or finding their niche—their group—or they’re finding themselves and their voice, or they’re finding their future career path,” Duff said.

Students don’t always pursue careers in the fields they study in Newton’s CTE programs, but they find new life skills and passions.

One student Duff mentioned, for example, studied in the CTE culinary program and then went to college for engineering. When Duff asked him why, his answer was simple.

“He said, ‘You know what? I knew I’d never be able to have this opportunity again, and this is a passion of mine,’” Duff said. “And he was like, ‘The summer jobs that I got and the experience, it was amazing.’”

Most students go on to study their chosen CTE paths, though, especially those studying drafting and early education, auto, carpentry and media arts.

“When you give the kids a foundation and then you kind of give them their wings their senior year, they will never cease to amaze you,” Duff said.

Another student studied graphics and then went into nursing, because the work she did interacting with people in the CTE graphics program made her confident in handling patient care.

For more information about Newton’s Career and Technical Education programs, visit their website.

Newton North High School teacher Mark Luntz teaches an auto repair class on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo by Bryan McGonigle