With increasing expectations for high school seniors, the pressures over what comes next are mounting. Those that choose to continue their education at a traditional four-year university are often heralded and can overshadow their classmates’ decisions to enter the workforce or those continuing on to postsecondary training.

Under the leadership of Mac Beaton, director of Career and Technical Education (CTE), Henrico County Public Schools in Henrico, Virginia, are hoping to elevate the status of Career and Technical Education. Beaton organized the district’s inaugural “Career and Technical Letter-of-Intent Signing Day.” This event looked similar to the familiar high school athletic signings.

Beaton’s signing day is intended to celebrate the students who have made a vocational commitment because they, like their college-bound peers, are still on a path of continual learning, even if they venture through a different avenue. “This is the ‘EEE’ approach, which recognizes each option of enrolled, enlisted and/or employed as a valid next step,” he says.

The program is focused on the career pathway, not by isolating a job prospect but by concentrating on the student’s end goal and the steps needed to secure that career. In the vein of continual learning, CTE jobs are constantly changing in terms of day-to-day outlooks. However, if a student’s skills are tailored to the vocation as a whole, they are better equipped to learn and evolve through these changes.

The CTE plan focuses on the intent by working with students and local employers to ensure cohesive pairings and clarify expectations and goals. Danna Markland, CEO of the Home Building Association of Richmond, has frequently collaborated with Beaton and the career and technology program.

Markland says the Henrico County CTE program is successful because Beaton acts as a tether between companies and students. “He is able to broker the relationship and ensure that the school system and employers are living up to their promises to students,” she says. By having an intermediary, Markland feels there is greater incentivization for students to ensure they fulfill their obligations.

Beaton demands excellence from his students, but they understand the reciprocity that he negotiates from employers.

The arrangement between Henrico County Public Schools and employers is one of partnership. Beaton approaches employers, not by asking what they can offer at the table but by asking for a handshake, not a handout. He believes this approach is a benefit to all involved because he says the value of education is derived from opportunity for all. It is the job of educators to provide students the tools to be successful in a multitude of environments, not just on one education track, according to Beaton.

It’s his understanding that education is not a straight line. “While the current formula in standardized education is kindergarten to elementary school and then middle and high school, college is not always the next logical step for everyone,” Beaton says. In order to make sense of the educational progression after high school, he encourages students to think backward along their career pathway. They should determine what their end goal is and then build upon the skills required for that outcome.