At Mountain View High School鈥檚 outdoor fields in Loveland, the baseball team isn鈥檛 the only group preparing for the game this afternoon.
鈥淚 don't know if we're gonna be ready for first pitch, but we'll see,鈥� JD Jacob, a teacher at Mountain View, said. 鈥淏etter late than never, right?鈥�
Today, he鈥檚 helping students unpack cameras, set up equipment and pilot one of their first-ever sports broadcasts. Some students take to the stands, keeping track of runs, outs, and who鈥檚 on base. Others, like freshman Levi Freitag, are inside the small, wooden press box in front of a camera doing play-by-play.
鈥淭oday is a great day to do some baseball. Don't you think so?鈥� he said to his co-anchor. 鈥淟ooks like #33 is coming up to pitch. Let's see what happens.鈥�
This is all new for Jacob. His main job is teaching theatre 鈥� not sports broadcasting.
鈥淚'm an amateur too,鈥� he said as he works on the camera software. 鈥淚 learned how to do this on YouTube about six months ago.鈥�
Jacob鈥檚 launching this brand new course in order to qualify for and . CTE generally supports education and skill attainment in careers like business or engineering. It鈥檚 the 鈥渘ew STEM,鈥� Jacob said.
Here at Mountain View, Jacob wants to use CTE to prepare his students for careers in technical theatre, so they learn skills like set design and sound mixing.
He got his official endorsement two years ago from the Department of Education. Now he鈥檚 working on adding the necessary classes 鈥� sports broadcasting would be part of that 鈥� to make the program official.
鈥淚 jumped at the chance to connect my students to extra funds, to get them extra opportunit(ies), because that's really what it's all about,鈥� Jacob said.
It wasn鈥檛 a perfect broadcast 鈥� there were a few camera issues and the anchors are still learning the ropes. But Prather said it was not only a fun learning opportunity, but a practical one. He wants to go into a more technical career.
鈥淚 actually got to work with the things I'll be using for my future career,鈥� Prather said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 extremely nice to have this integrated within our school experience, instead of having to leave and go pay money to do it somewhere else.鈥�
Mountain View High School, which is part of the Thompson School District, is an arts-focused school. But, like many districts, budgets are tight. Jacob said his school is very supportive of the arts, but funding doesn鈥檛 always go directly to his theatre program.
鈥淭hey support us in other ways, other than financially, because money is tight everywhere in public education,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e've been given a lot of recognition, which is great. Recognition doesn't buy microphones.鈥�
As Jacob builds this curriculum from the ground up, he has to actively recruit students for an elective spot in their busy schedules. His school requires him to get 20 students in order to teach them. But if students are already taking band or choir, for instance, they may not have the space.
鈥淚t's kind of like a fight for your continued necessity every single year,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f I get tired of recruiting and kids stop signing up for theater, eventually, the school won't be able to justify my continued employment here.鈥�
But CTE is changing the game for Jacob. Not only could his school receive funding for teaching these theatre-based classes, but students could gain the skills they need to make the arts their full-time gig after graduation.
鈥淭he fact that Colorado is saying we value theatrical design and technology as a pathway of career is a really good thing for arts teachers,鈥� he said.
Access to arts education varies across the state. Teachers and individual schools report that some students have less instruction per week. Some districts have reduced staffing. Others have cut programs altogether. The Colorado Department of Education lacks comprehensive data on arts offerings in schools.
Think 360 Arts For Learning, a state education nonprofit, , the amount of credentialed arts teachers declined by 5%, or around 150 fewer teachers, from the previous year.
Dramatic Arts, or theatre, had the steepest decline in credentialed teachers. Additionally, of the 187 school districts in Colorado, 164 of them had no certified Dramatic Arts teachers. That鈥檚 nearly 90%.
鈥淭he days of a comprehensive high school having four or five art teachers鈥hat鈥檚 an antiquated existence,鈥� Andy Stevens, the director of career and college readiness for the Thompson School District, said.
Stevens said students are prioritizing their time differently. They want off-hours so they can work a job in the afternoon. They want study halls to keep up with schoolwork during the day so they can make sports practice in the afternoon. And they need their core credits to graduate.
He believes CTE will help keep these arts classes alive, as long as they are tied to a technical skill. While funds have been available for decades, CTE dollars must be used to train students for well-paying, in-demand jobs in Colorado. Stevens said most kinds of fine arts are not seen this way.
鈥淭he state of Colorado views those as hobbies, not careers,鈥� he said. 鈥淢ost people are not going to make a living performing. They're going to make a living as a sound engineer.鈥�
But CTE鈥檚 use for arts-related careers is slowly growing. Currently, more than 160 high schools across the state host arts-related CTE programs, according to Colorado Community College System data, which manages CTE for the state. It鈥檚 the second-most-popular career cluster in Colorado 鈥� around 24,000 students. Around 40 districts 鈥� including Brighton, Poudre and Jefferson County 鈥� have technical theatre programs.
The origins of Jacob鈥檚 tech theatre program at Mountain View High School in Loveland have already impacted Kajsa Oresjo. The senior has co-directed some of the school鈥檚 productions and took a few of Jacob鈥檚 classes.
鈥淚 feel almost less like a student learning something, and more like I'm actually helping us put on all these productions and stuff,鈥� she said.
Now, Oresjo plans to study theatre design at the University of Northern Colorado. Her parents were supportive, but asked her to research what she鈥檇 make as a theatre technician. Oresjo feels prepared, but she鈥檚 bummed that the full CTE program wasn鈥檛 available to her in high school.
鈥淚 think if I had the opportunity to know a little bit more about every single area and have some of those certifications as I was leaving, I might be more inclined to maybe wait on the four year education and instead just start working,鈥� she said.
Oresjo believes Jacob鈥檚 future technical classes will set students up well, no matter if they choose theatre or not.
鈥淎ctors, without technicians, are just people who can sing and dance and act and stuff,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut technicians, if there鈥檚 no theater, they're just people with a lot of marketable skills鈥here's so many more opportunities than you think there are.鈥�
Jacob will soon apply for state approval of his full CTE program. When his sports broadcasting program launches in the fall, his students will be covering football and girl鈥檚 volleyball.
