The percentage of "CTE Completers" has risen dramatically over the last several years. Graphic courtesy Lucerne Valley CTE
By Peter Day
LVUSD New Media
The future looks brighter every day for Lucerne Valley Middle High School students as the school’s Career Technical Education (CTE) program is making statistical gains, facility improvements and upgrades and opening doors to future successes from its graduates.
That’s the assessment of Lucerne Valley Middle High School Principal Jason Story after Assistant Principal Jessica Haecker and two student CTE Ambassadors presented the annual CTE Program Update to the Lucerne Valley USD Board of Trustees earlier this month.
“After graduation, these program improvements will have our students leave with not only experience in trades but all of them will have some certifications whether its food handlers or Osha certificates, which makes them employable immediately after they graduate,” Story said.
Lucerne Valley High School students Genesis Ayala, left, and Mikayla McCuistion are the school's first CTE Ambassadors and have made a big contribution sharing the value of the CTE program to students and beyond.
CTE STUDENT AMBASSADORS
Helping to spread the news of CTE merits are two high school students volunteers who serve as Lucerne Valley’s first CTE ambassadors. Genesis Ayala and Mikayla McCuistion explain the features and benefits of the school’s CTE pathways to other students and local business people.
“They were chosen by their CTE teachers, and these two girls have been rock stars,” Ms. Haecker said about the ambassadors. “They tracked me down and emailed me and said they want to do this. I said, ‘Go for it, girls!’ All of this is their own ideas. We’re very proud of them and the work they’ve done.”
The ambassadors, both active with sports and other activities at school, are thoroughly enjoying their new roles.
“As student ambassadors, our goal is not to involve students in our own CTE pathways, which we're all versed in, but to promote as many kids as possible to get excited about Career Technical Education in general,” Genesis said during the update.
This past school year, the duo attended the High Desert Chamber of Commerce’s Valley Morning Insight (VMI) to participate in the Mountain Desert Career Pathways’ presentation to the chamber, and Genesis and Mikayla hosted an activity at the CTE booth at the Middle High’s elective fair, where students do their course requests for the next school year. Interested students were able to take a personality quiz to find which CTE pathways best suit them. The ambassadors also perform outreach through social media.
The school’s CTE organization also selected its first CTE Student of the Month, Christian Barajas, a senior student-athlete who is completing his culinary arts and Ag mechanics this year.
During their school board presentation, the ambassadors talked about improvements to a number of CTE facilities including the fast-growing culinary program, which includes food prep modernization of equipment to industry standards, and restaurant updates; the welding building, which has improved machinery and more space; a new, larger auto facility; the graphics pathway, which has more advanced printing equipment and improved work spaces; product design classes that feature 3D modeling; an expanded agriculture pathway that includes a new greenhouse, and poultry space for chickens.
“In every CTE course we offer there has been tremendous growth since I have been here due to the unbelievable leadership of my AP Jessica Haecker as well as the best CTE teachers in the desert,” Story said. “Everyone in this department thinks outside of the box to give great opportunities to our students.”
Assistant Principal Jessica Haecker has spearheaded the drive to move the Lucerne Valley Middle High School's upward and onward.
COLLEGE/CAREER INDICATOR GOES UP
A lot has changed since the doldrums of the COVID Pandemic era. After a dip in college/career readiness during the 2020 pandemic and several years following, the Lucerne Valley High School College/Career Indicator (CCI) has shown a steady, but dramatic rise. Just 17% of LVHS seniors showed a readiness for college or career in 2023, but the CCI rose to 52.7% in 2024 and skyrocketed to 72.4% in 2025. That improvement closely matches the climb in the number of students in grades 10-12 that completed their CTE program and certifications. In 2022 there were 54 “CTE Completers” followed by 45 in 2023, 91 in 2024 and most recently 83. Senior CTE Completers rose from 27% to 68.5% during the same time period.
Victor Valley College, which serves as a key partner for high school CTE programs, has increased its percentage of courses with VVC agreements from 35% in 2021-2022 to 87% in 2025-2026. That means that students have a greater opportunity to receive college credit while taking a high school CTE class. Lucerne Valley is hoping to develop an agreement with Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. Sac) for their agriculture students.
Another measurement is the number of industry certifications Lucerne Valley students have obtained. In 2023-2024, less than 100 certifications were earned. “Last year there was an explosion of certifications,” Ms. Haecker said. The industry certifications rose to a total of 432 earned with 94% of 12th graders earning one or more certifications.
Industry certifications earned by students has skyrocketed over the last five years at Lucerne Valley.
MIDDLE SCHOOL CTE
“We’ve expanded CTE into our middle school” 49% taking a CTE intro class, she said. They can take introductions in agriculture, graphic arts, culinary arts. “We’re hoping we can expand into automotive. We’ll see.”
Several of the high school CTE classes have created work-based learning programs such as the culinary program, which operates the on-campus Corral Restaurant, and Agriculture/FFA and Auto Mechanics programs. Last year, 37 students logged a total of 2,011 Student Enterprises hours.
Ms. Haecker thanked the school board and administrators for their support. “We couldn’t do it without them,” she said.
For more information on the Lucerne Valley Middle High School CTE program, visit @lucernevalley.cte on Instagram.
A Lucerne Valley High School Student works at one of several new welding stations.
Like a number of Lucerne Valley CTE programs, the culinary program has seen its facilities upgraded to industry standards.
Culinary and Ag Mechanics student Christian Barajas, center, was named the first CTE Student of the Month.