Washougal School District partners with Cascadia Technical Academy

The Washougal School District (WSD) is partnering with Vancouver-based Cascadia Technical Academy (Cascadia Tech) to bring two of the vocational school’s educational offerings to Washougal.

Two Cascadia Tech satellite programs — a teaching academy and a forestry management program — will launch at Washougal High School’s Excelsior Building at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, according to Margaret Rice, WSD’s director of career and technical education (CTE).

“One of the things that I was tasked with this year is to develop innovative programs,” Rice told Washougal School Board members during their Nov. 26 meeting, adding that she initially questioned how the district could “develop new and innovative programs” during a time when revenues are low and student enrollment, which is linked to per-student funding from the state, is decreasing.

“I started thinking that it (would be) amazing to bring some of the Cascadia Technical Academy CTE programs to Washougal so that we can expand what we offer to our students but also provide a hub for other schools in our area, some of which never have an opportunity to (send their students) to Cascadia Tech. It’s pretty exciting.”

Cascadia Tech launched in 1983 as the Clark County Skills Center before rebranding in 2015. It offers 18 educational programs, including automotive technology, pre-electrical, dental, cosmetology and construction, to more than 1,400 high-school upperclassmen from the Battle Ground, Camas, Evergreen, Hockinson, La Center, Ridgefield, Vancouver, Washougal and Woodland school districts each year.

Participating students can earn college credits, certifications and licenses specific to area of study.

The school is designed, according to Cascadia Tech, “to offer programs that prepare students to enter the world of work right after high school.”

WSD’s interim superintendent, Aaron Hansen, said he was impressed by what he saw after taking a recent tour of the Cascadia Tech campus in Vancouver.

“I think I saw four different programs, including criminal justice, construction and aviation,” he told the school board Nov. 26. “It was so phenomenal to see. Students are really engaged in what’s happening.”

The teaching academy will prepare students to become a Washington state-certified paraeducator, allowing them to work immediately upon graduation or to continue their education to earn a teaching degree or other certification.

“We’ve been trying to build our education training pathway. We’ve added Child Development in Education, and this is the next-step course,” Rice said. “What’s really cool about this course is (that it’s a) two-and-a-half hour block day class, so students have the opportunity to actually do field experience through this class, and when they’re done, they can sit for their paraeducator certification and be ready to go straight to work or continue their education.

“The class up in Woodland is currently articulated with Lower Columbia College, as well as a college and high school course with Central Washington (University), and the plan is to do the same thing here, only with Clark (College) and Central Washington University.”

The forestry management program will provide students with the skills and knowledge needed to identify plants, trees, disease, insects and pathogens, as well as watershed ecology and timber management practices to assist them in entering into a post-secondary education program in preparation for a variety of natural resource careers.

“Forestry management is also very, very cool, considering where we live and all of the forests that we have all the way down the Gorge,” Rice said. “There’s no class like it in our region, so it’s going to be open to all the consortiums as well as schools down the Gorge, like Stevenson, Carson and White Salmon. In Washougal, we have an advanced placement environmental science class, but those students have nowhere else to go. That isn’t a CTE class, but when you think of it in terms of learning pathways, it’s a logical next-step course.

“Cascadia Tech will be looking for a college partner, which they already think they’ve landed on, Grays Harbor College (in Aberdeen, Washington), which makes sense because it’s in a national forest area.”

Rice said the new Cascadia Tech partnership will “expand learning opportunities for students.”

“It finishes uncompleted pathways. It provides new pathways. It provides depth of learning,” she said. “It also allows for field experiences and professional mentorship.”

Rice said that the East County satellite programs will be financed by Cascadia Tech

“It’s an annual commitment, so this is a way for us to try it. If it doesn’t work, then we don’t have to continue,” she said. “(Cascadia Techis) renting the space from us. They’re helping pay for custodial (services) and things that we need with students in this space. They will be the teachers of these courses. And then, as far as our commitment goes, if students (in the teaching academy) cannot find a mentor in their sending school, we’ll support them in our district or help them find a placement in their own (school district) if that’s where they want to be.”

If the East County satellite program succeeds, it could provide more program options in Washougal in the future, according to Rice.

“There’s an opportunity for growth,” she said. “When I first started the conversation with (Cascadia Tech Director) Joan (Huston), I brought in our Port (of Camas-Washougal) partners. There is potential to bring a maritime (program) to our port, and the Port is very eager to assist. There’s also potential to expand (Cascadia Tech’s) aviation program to Grove Field, as they are growing, so that more students have the opportunity.”