Cutting the ribbon on the new Instrumentation Lab at Robert E. Lee High School are (from left) Victor Hernandez, student; Dr. Demetrius McCall, deputy superintendent of administrative services; Richard Clem, assistant secretary of the GCCISD board of trustees; Brandon Capetillo, Baytown mayor; Renea Dillon, director of CTE; Dr. Randal O’Brien, superintendent; Dr. Lynda Villanueva, Lee College president; Rob Bacon, site operations manager for ExxonMobil BTEC; Tayler Edwards, student; Randy Morales, student; Carling Caldwell, CTE specialist; Margie Grimes, chief financial officer; Dr. Rom Crespo, Lee principal and Diego Loredo, student.
Photo by Carrie Pryor-Newman
Tayler Edwards (front), STEM student at Lee High School, leads a tour after the ribbon cutting of the new Instrumentation Lab at Lee. Pictured are (from left) Rob Bacon, site operations manager for ExxonMobil BTEC, Brandon Capetillo, Baytown mayor; Margie Grimes, Goose Creek CISD chief financial officer; Renea Dillon, CTE director and Dr. Lynda Villanueva, Lee College president.
Photo by Carrie Pryor-Newman
GCCISD Hosts Ribbon Cutting for Instrumentation Lab
By: Susan Passmore
Goose Creek CISD recently hosted a ribbon cutting for the new Instrumentation Lab at Robert E. Lee High School, which is home to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Academy. The STEM Academy received Model Status, the highest rating granted, from the National Career Academy Coalition, based on the National Standards of Practice for Career Academies.
Dr. Randal O’Brien, Goose Creek CISD superintendent, kicked off the ceremony, thanking Renea Dillon, career and technical education (CTE) director, and everyone involved with making the Instrumentation Lab as well as the STEM Academy possible.
“The concept that you’re seeing today is part of something called a “School Within a School,” so our children have options. They have options not only within the roof of the school they’re zoned to, but they may apply and go to a school across the district because they have an interest in that area or that field,” O’Brien said.
Students Tayler Edwards and Randy Morales led the pledges to the flags. Carling Caldwell, CTE specialist at Lee, recognized administrators, faculty and special guests as well as served as emcee. Dillon, who has been recognized by her Gulf Coast Career and Technical Education Association as the Gulf Coast CTE Administrator of the Year, commended the 1200% growth of the academy over the past 10 years.
“We are excited to expand to add the Instrumentation and Electrical Lab to facilitate dual credit on the campus,” Dillon said.
Dr. Rom Crespo, Lee principal, expressed his excitement at being the principal at a school that provides this academy as well as the new lab for students.
Rob Bacon, site operations manager for ExxonMobil BTEC, Partners In Education with Lee through the Baytown Chamber of Commerce and chair of the advisory board, congratulated the district for building a state-of-the-art Instrumentation Lab.
“We are proud of our rich history with Goose Creek CISD and especially with Robert E. Lee High School,” Bacon said. “It’s exciting to see the investment in the Instrumentation Lab to help build the skills needed to work in our facilities and in industry. We have a strong need for instrument technicians and engineers as we continue to advance automation, and this lab helps build those skills at a much earlier age, as Dr. Crespo mentioned. It really helps equip the students much sooner when they go out into the workforce-in this setting they can go right from high school into the workforce, which is fantastic. I’d like to encourage the students here to strongly consider a career in the STEM field.”
Dr. Lynda Villanueva, president of Lee College congratulated Goose Creek CISD on the new Instrumentation Lab.
“You know, at Lee College we’re building pathways from the college all the way down into high schools to ensure that Goose Creek students and our entire community have a clear path to reach their educational and career goals,” Villanueva said. “This new Instrumentation program that we’re cutting the ribbon for today is just another shining example of a promising field that will allow our students to jump start their long-term educational goals right here, earn college credits while in high school at Lee College and move on to a career that will allow our students to attain family-sustaining wages.”
After the ribbon cutting, guests were invited to tour the facility. Goose Creek CISD will host a ribbon cutting for the Manufacturing and Industrial Maintenance Academy at Stuart Career Tech High School Feb. 10 at 3:30 p.m.