CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — For the first time, a group of students in Tuloso-Midway ISD are seeing the options on the table when it comes to the design and location of the new Career and Technical Education Center planned for the district.
A round table discussion was held Wednesday afternoon between the students and the district's superintendent, Steve VanMatre, to get their input.
The addition of the center is something approved by voters through a $165 million dollar bond election.
VanMatre said it was important for him to involve the students with the decision making process and those students had no trouble voicing what they liked and didn't like about the designs.
It was a meeting of the minds, T-M students part of the superintendent's advisory council took notes and listened pretty intently as they flipped through three different design and placement options for the new CTE building.
"We don't want folks to look at the school and say it was dropped from outer space," VanMatre said.
The center will create a space for programs like welding, engineering, cosmetology, and various animal, plant and health science classes, as well as digital media and production.
VanMatre said the expansion was greatly needed to help students prepare for their future careers after they went from having 67 kids involved in duel credit college enrollment to over 600 this year.
"With that you have to have the facilities that are aligned with those programs, we just didn't have that," he said. "We had 1984 facilities trying to educate 2024 kids and beyond."
When discussing the options, security was at the forefront of importance for the students.
Eighth grader Ray Ramos took a liking to option one which would connect the new building to the school.
"I was leaning towards one more, it had the same priorities as me," Ramos said. "It prioritized safety over modernism, whereas three was more of the opposite."
Illiana Arias, a junior, had a different opinion.
"If we're trying to advance the school and go for the modern look, I think option three was the best option for that," Arias said.
That option would be detached from the school and located at the northeast practice field.
"I didn't realize they took safety as important as what I take it, many times, safety means inconvenience; we already inconvenience them all this year, we have medal detectors, now we are going to change the complete entry," VanMatre said. "I think they appreciate, all of this is to keep them safe."
The student's input gives district leaders and the architects a unique perspective to consider.
"A lot of people have problems with not being able to speak up, or being shy, I think being in this council, even this just, was almost the embodiment of we're heard, we are people, our opinion matters," Ramos said.
Next week, the district will make the presentation to a group of stakeholders and members of the community to get their take on the options.
From there, they'll take that information back to the architect.
The target is to have the center open by summer 2026.