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| LEARNING ABOUT WORKING WORLD — Advanced woodworking students hear some of the benefits of their OSCHA certifications in the working world from teacher Kevin Crovetto. |
PONCHATOULA — Kevin Crovetto’s students and friends will be seeing more of him on Louisiana Public Broadcasting promoting shows like “This Old House” and “New Yankee Workshop.”
LPB officials sought him out after he told a convention group he used those shows to teach students about the tools and methods in his Industry Based Certifica-tion classes at Ponchatoula High School.
His high energy and enthusiasm for the program have won for him the “Jake Bailey Jr. Above and Beyond” award from the Tangipahoa Parish School Board.
Everyone shows enthusiasm at times, “but this man shows enthusiasm every minute, every hour,” said board member Ann Smith after visiting his classes.
“I have never known a more passionate teacher,” said board member Sandra Bailey-Simmons.
For 20 years Crovetto has been teaching industrial arts, woodworking, welding, tools and work safety to high school students.
The job has grown over time, as has the teaching equipment thanks to federal tax dollars.
Giving students marketable skills right out of high school is more of a focus than ever.
Students can graduate with welding certifications and OSCHA safety certifications that are recognized by employers.
His classrooms are filled with the tools of the trade. In one there are wood lathes, welding machines and safety equipment in protected work stations, hand tools, lumber and work tables.
His other classroom has computers and work stations where students learn some of the basic language of technical arts and review programs on projects like bridge building from start to finish — incorporating all the skills and technology needed to arrive at a finished product.
It helps build interest and gives students a broader view about how and where the skills they learn can fit into the work world.
Because of they earned certifications in Crovetto’s class, some of his recently graduated students are earning nearly $18 an hour as interns right out of high school as they attend technical college.
It is a matter of great pride for the teacher with the perpetual pencil behind his ear.
“My job here is to give these students opportunity...” Corvetto said. “I want these students prepared for life whether they go to college, the military, technical school or start to work.”
That ties right in with a major state initiative to prepare graduating seniors for the next big step in their life, whatever direction it takes, said Melissa Stilley, chief academic officer for the parish public school system.
Industrial technology classes and the culinary school at Hammond High are examples of what’s to come.
Technology is going to “open the door” because of the magic of video conferencing that can tie classrooms from Hammond to Kentwood.
“This is something we want to do more of,” Stilley said. “This is the tip of the iceberg.”
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