{"id":49597,"date":"2025-11-21T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=49597"},"modified":"2025-11-18T12:29:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T17:29:14","slug":"eighth-graders-explore-career-pathways-during-vantage-career-center-tours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/eighth-graders-explore-career-pathways-during-vantage-career-center-tours\/","title":{"rendered":"Eighth Graders Explore Career Pathways During Vantage Career Center Tours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"666\" height=\"474\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Vantage-8th-grade-tour-1.png?fit=666%2C474&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-49598\" style=\"width:555px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Vantage Career Center Electricity senior, Jason Luersman, demonstrates a hands-on wiring activity for visiting eighth graders during career exploration tours. Students learned how circuits power everyday technology while exploring the skills taught in the Electrical program. Image by Tessa Laing.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The week of November 3\u20137 was an exciting one at Vantage Career Center, as more than 750 eighth graders from 14 local schools stepped into the world of career-technical education. Students explored 18 different program labs, each offering hands-on experiences that connected learning to real-world careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The annual Vantage 8th Grade Tours gave students a close-up look at opportunities in skilled trades, health sciences, business, public safety, and technology. Tours began Monday with Lincolnview and Continental students and continued throughout the week with visits from Crestview, Delphos St. John\u2019s, Ottoville, Delphos Jefferson, Goedde, Van Wert, Wayne Trace, Fort Jennings, Antwerp, Kalida, Paulding, and Parkway middle schools. Vantage is incredibly thankful for the continued partnership and collaboration with these schools, whose support helps make these tours possible each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"666\" height=\"505\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Vantage-8th-grade-tour-2.png?fit=666%2C505&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-49599\" style=\"width:555px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Vantage Career Center Industrial Mechanics junior, Ryan Kahle, demonstrates how a vertical milling machine operates for visiting eighth graders during career exploration tours. <em>Image taken by Tessa Laing.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Current Vantage students proudly led the tours, sharing their experiences and showcasing the skills they\u2019ve learned. Eighth graders got to roll up their sleeves and try it all; from how to gauze a wound in Health Technology and sitting inside a police cruiser in Criminal Justice to testing the welding simulator, tying rebar, programming AI, and more! Students explored all Vantage Career Center programs, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Ag &amp; Industrial Power Technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Auto Collision Repair<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Auto Technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Carpentry<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Construction Equipment Technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Cosmetology<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Criminal Justice<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Culinary Arts<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Early Childhood Education<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Electricity<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Health Technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Machining and Engineering Technologies<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Medical Assisting<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Industrial Mechanics<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Interactive Media<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Network Systems<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Sports Exercise Therapy<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2022 Welding<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThese tours foster early engagement and enthusiasm for learning by providing students with an authentic, hands-on glimpse into various career fields before they even enter high school,\u201d said Tonya Temple, Student Services Supervisor at Vantage Career Center. \u201cThey offer a valuable opportunity for students to start identifying their strengths and interests, explore potential career pathways, and gain a deeper understanding of the comprehensive programs Vantage Career Center has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">As the tours wrapped up, students left inspired, ready to dream big, explore their interests, and discover how Vantage Career Center helps turn career goals into reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">For more information about programs and opportunities at Vantage Career Center, visit www.vantagecareercenter.com or follow @VantageCareerCenter on Facebook and Instagram<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The week of November 3\u20137 was an exciting one at Vantage Career Center, as more than 750 eighth graders from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Vantage-8th-grade-tour-1.png?fit=666%2C474&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-cTX","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 17:31:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49600,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49597\/revisions\/49600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}