ARLINGTON — Katie Morgan recently turned a piece of balsa wood into a Formula One race car.

But that wasn’t the most impressive part.

Her 1/20th scale F-1 racer was named the best in the entire state of Washington by judges.

“I was really excited about it,” said Morgan, an Arlington High School senior. “I liked the idea of doing something really challenging. It was a lot of trial and error.”

Morgan, who only decided to enter the Washington Technical Student Association competition about a month and a half before it took place in March, is among a growing number of Arlington students to reap the benefits of the school’s career and technical education clubs and programs.

During a time when many school districts are eliminating staff and cutting classes, Arlington High School’s CTE program is adding courses and expanding its existing curriculum to other schools.

“We’re kind of shifting to what’s in-demand,” said Brett Sarver, CTE director for the high school. “We’ve offered these types of application-based learning to students before. Now there’s more of a demand for it. Employers realize that they need to replace some of their work force, and we’re trying to cater to those needs.”

What students want

Arlington High School is responding, Sarver said.

The School Board in January approved a new biotechnology course that will begin in the fall, giving students a chance to learn about DNA structure and sequencing, microbiology and protein analysis.

“We’re going to focus a little bit on the applications of science and I’m hoping we get a mixture of students in it,” said class instructor Michele Wolski in February.

Sarver said that so far the new class has been highly sought after.

“We’re very pleased with the amount of kids that signed up for it,” said Sarver.

Administrators from the school also recently announced that they will be expanding the high school robotics club program into Stillaguamish Valley School.

In its current form, the club requires its members to help design and construct a working robot, which eventually goes up against other high school robots in state competition to complete a designated task.

Arlington’s robotics club began last school year and Sarver said students have really embraced it.

“It’s almost like we’re seeing a resurgence in hands-on education,” he said.

Real-world skills

For some students, CTE clubs and programs are about competition.

Many of the high school’s clubs, such as TSA, DECA or FFA, take part in regional, state and national competitions as the school year concludes.

During those events, students can test their creativity, skills and knowledge against other high-schoolers.

Juniors Becky Victory, Keila Gordon and Tabbi Tregoning recently claimed top honors at the International Career Development Conference for a project they completed for their DECA club.

The students received the “best overall” award at the event, which took place April 24-27 in Louisville, Ky., for their Chapter Awards Project.

The project required the students to compile photos, documents and other items into a bound book. Judges thumbed through students’ books at nationals, and deemed the Arlington students’ book to be one of the best.

“The judges laughed when we were talking with them,” Gordon said. “We thought either that meant that we did really good or not so good.”

In addition to learning how to create a project that meets specific criteria, the students said they learned even more about themselves.

“I learned that I’m better at public speaking than I thought I was,” Gordon said.

Victory agreed: “It made me a lot more comfortable speaking, and I think that will help me in my classes in the future.”

A bright future

For his state TSA project, Aaron Hollander was tasked with designing and building an object that could be mass produced in an American factory and sold as a kit.

“You basically could design anything as long as you don’t get any help from your instructors,” Hollander said.

So the Arlington High School junior decided to create a bookshelf.

Much to his surprise, he took first place in the event’s woodworking and design challenge.

But he said he’s not satisfied with his award.

During his senior year, Hollander will serve as the high school’s TSA club treasurer, and plans to design another project for next year.

“I plan to do something more complex,” he said.

Students from Arlington recently showed off some of their awards and projects on May 3 at the second annual Manufacturing Education and Training Exchange 2010.

The event, which was held at Edmonds Community College, gave students one final chance to share with professionals in the job field what they had done during the 2009-10 school year.

Arlington High School sent 12 high-schoolers to the event, including Morgan and her F-1 car.

Morgan said she had a chance to talk with potential employers and businesses, and gave her a send off as she wraps up her senior year.

Morgan said she plans to attend Everett Community College next year to see where her interests take her.

“It was interesting to talk to people who have gone forward with this,” Morgan said.