8th-graders to preview offerings

YOUNGSTOWN -- Eighth-graders in Youngstown city schools are being invited to spend time at the Choffin Career and Technical Center to look at what the school has to offer.
They'll also learn the importance of getting good grades so they can get into Choffin. Only juniors and seniors can opt to attend the career tech programs offered at the school.
Choffin secured a $20,000 Career Technical Critical Transitions Grant to fund a program this summer that will allow eighth-graders to spend nine mornings at the school, beginning Tuesday.
Eighty pupils have signed up to participate.
During their visits from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. each day, they will spend time in different career tech programs for hands-on academic learning.
"We are very excited to have this opportunity to reach out to our eighth-grade students as they make the critical transition to high school," said Joe Meranto, Choffin school director. "We want to show them that academics play a vital role in every class at the career center."
The younger pupils need to see the importance of maintaining good grades in the ninth and tenth grades so they can attend Choffin as juniors and seniors, Meranto said
The Association for Career and Technical Education reports that research shows that many of the country's fastest-growing occupations require the technical skills taught in career tech education programs.