Career readiness is valued not only in the College and Career Center but also in the counseling office. Students are being offered seven new elective classes this year. Five new electives are being offered as options for more Career Technical Education (CTE) Pathways.

Classes such as Childhood Development, Sports Medicine, Cybersecurity, American Sign Language (ASL) and RockFit are entry-level. Dual Enrollment Entrepreneurship with Sierra College is a second level CTE course that goes with the business pathway. Sports Media is also a second level CTE class branching off the video production pathway.

“We’re really trying to build as many pathways . . . for students as possible. That was  . . . kind of the drive behind [the new electives]. It’s just getting new opportunities for students to learn different skills before they graduate,” Junior Counselor Ms. Morgan Schafer said.

“[Sports Media] is interesting because . . . not everybody is filming and cutting videos . . . There are students behind the camera, there are students in front of the camera . . . Every student has their purpose for that class,” Ms. Schafer said.

Three of these classes are taught by teachers new to Rocklin High School (RHS). Ms. Emily Miyaoka teaches two sections of ASL at RHS, and also teaches ASL part-time at Whitney High School. Sports Medicine is an elective taught by Ms. Torey Walter, a RHS alumni. The Childhood Development class is taught by Ms. Robyn Parratto.

“Ms. Parratto is a really fun teacher, and she wants to make child development a welcoming place for students . . . [The class] is a mix of how to take care of a child and also has some of the information from Health in there too,” Childhood Development student Reilly McKevitt said.

It’s unclear what classes are going to go or stay for next year, but the plan is for these programs to grow as these first classes continue on their CTE pathways.