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School? There’s an MCCTC app for that
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Mahoning County Career and Technical Center senior Xoella Camelli , left, from Jackson-Milton, and Elizabeth Blythe, a senior from South Range, scroll through MCCTC’s new mobile applications on an iPad and an iPhone, respectively. The app allows students, parents and others to access information about activities at the center.
By Denise Dick
Canfield
Mahoning County Career and Technical Center senior Elizabeth Blythe scrolled through the center’s new mobile application on her iPhone.
“You can check grades on here?” she asked.
“Yep, on Progress Book,” said Jacqueline Kuffel, career development supervisor at the school.
The app, simply called MCCTC app, launched after the first of the year, allows students, parents and others from the community to check out what goes on at the center.
Though grade information is password-protected and accessible only to students and parents, the app includes other information that’s available to anyone.
“We’re getting into a lot of social media — Facebook, Twitter and now the app,” Kuffel said. “We’re trying to keep pace with what students are interested in.”
The app includes information about both the high-school and adult-education programs at the center.
“It has a calendar, so I can use that,” said Blythe, 18, of South Range, who is studying interactive multimedia and was just learning about the app. “Are the student-to-student videos on here?”
Those student-produced videos, which are on the app, highlight the various programs at the center from culinary arts and cosmetology to biotechnology and criminal justice.
Blythe says she’ll also use it to check on school closings and encourage her mother to download the app.
E-boards on the app allow students and parents to check on the work assigned in various classes. “Parents are very active on the e-boards,” Kuffel said.
For adult education programs, students and prospective students can use the application to learn about financial aid.
Several days per week, MCCTC’s Joyce Brooks Center is used for meetings of education groups, and the app also includes directions, information about parking and the appropriate entrance to the building to attend such meetings.
It also links to websites of the Mahoning County schools whose students attend MCCTC, said Adrienne Sabo, public- relations associate at Prodigal Media, which designed and implemented the app.
Since its launch, 226 people have downloaded the app — 60 percent of those used their iPhone, 32 percent are Android users and 8 percent downloaded it onto their iPads.