Leigh High School student Isiah McGee had both personal and pragmatic reasons for enrolling in the new electrical vehicle program offered by the Metropolitan Education District.
As to the former, he told those assembled for the program’s grand opening celebration on Oct. 27 he was inspired to learn how to repair and maintain EVs by watching his dad fix his own truck and work on other people’s cars. As to the latter, he said, “Regular school wasn’t doing it for me.”
The Metropolitan Education District, aka MetroEd, launched the EV program along with a nursing careers program at its San Jose campus to help Santa Clara County students who don’t thrive in a regular classroom setting find a career path, focusing on two job sectors where the demand for employees currently outstrips the supply. The grand opening marked the first new programs at MetroEd since 2017.
“MetroEd saw the real-world trend in emerging sectors like EVs,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, who led the effort to secure a one-time county grant for $250,000 to get the programs off the ground. “These 21st-century programs provide a great return on investment for the local economy.”
The programs also give students the opportunity to move on to college-level courses. Sonya Prabhoo, a Leland High School student enrolled in the nursing careers program, said students have the option of taking free nursing certification classes at Mission College in Santa Clara after they’ve completed the program.
While MetroEd has always provided job training, its focus on getting students on a college track is an integral part of its Silicon Valley Career Technical Education (SVCTE) course offerings. The two new programs are among 25 free SVCTE courses available to juniors and seniors in the Campbell Union, East Side Union, Los Gatos-Saratoga Union, Milpitas Unified, San Jose Unified and Santa Clara Unified high school districts.
Cynthia Chang, who stepped down last year after 24 years on the Los Gatos-Saratoga district board, helped convince Simitian to find the funding for the EV and nursing programs. In her time on the board, Chang said, she watched people’s perception of what MetroEd has to offer change along with its course offerings.
“Before, it was for kids who couldn’t make it to college,” she said in an interview. “But now it’s college and career. Kids are proud to be here.”
In the electric vehicles program, instructor Tom Nemeth teaches his students skills that are applicable both on and off the job. When they’re not working on cars, Nemeth’s students do activities meant to highlight team building and collaboration.
“It’s everything to do with problem solving, critical thinking and working together, and that’s what working in a shop is about,” Nemeth said.
While the county grant that launched the EV and nursing programs is a one-off, state Assemblymember Alex Lee, who represents Milpitas, said the state has provided an incentive grant of about $660,000 to be split between MetroEd and “the only other district like it in the state,” located in Southern California.