This event highlighted the culminating work of level 4 CTE students across a wide range of career pathways.
“This is an amazing evening of seeing students truly living their Ikigai (reason for being),” said Jordan Englehart, event organizer and Durango High School (DHS) engineering, robotics, and aerospace teacher. “It is an inspiration to see the range and depth of talents and passions.”
Around 100 families and staff packed into Impact to see the presentations and enjoy food catered by students from the district’s Culinary Arts program, led by instructor Angela Fosco. The students also offered healthy take-home meal kits for sale as a fundraiser at the event.
Visitors split up into different rooms to hear 27 TED Talk-style presentations from 40 students. Their work represented many of the 14 CTE pathways available at DHS, including Engineering, Graphic Design, Healthcare, Welding, Agricultural Science, Interior Design, Fashion Design, Computer Science, and Business and Entrepreneurship.
These capstone projects reflect a year of independent inquiry, real-world work-based learning, and community engagement. Students presented on topics that align with their personal passions and career interests.
Alyssa Scott presented her own custom fashion brand and designs, which included constructing original garments, developing a digital “look book,” and experimenting with fashion photography with a friend who modeled her work.
Business students Peyton Dike, Dominic Dreier, Alex Elias, Maverick Rodriguez, and Ellie White worked together to solve a real-world problem: Students experience back and neck pain from hunching over their Chromebooks. Their solution? The AirStand, a portable, lightweight, expanding computer stand designed to improve users’ posture.
Computer Science and Engineering students combined their skills to create an automated system to monitor the temperature and humidity levels in the SOIL Outdoor Learning Lab Grow Dome on the Riverview Elementary School campus.
John Womack fine-tuned his welding skills by crafting a lightweight aluminum bedside table, with a unique tabletop design depicting the Colorado state flower.
Elena Forrest found a way to use solar power in the backcountry. She wanted to create an environmentally friendly way to charge devices while hiking. She studied electrical and mechanical engineering practices to create a compact solar phone charger.
Other projects featured homemade rockets, concussion awareness, DHS interior design, a go-kart, a deer-proof custom bumper, homeless support, a mobile medical clinic, 3-D remote aircraft, and a wind turbine for renewable energy at the SOIL Outdoor Learning Lab.