As part of National CTE Month in February, IMESD is highlighting educators who work in Career Technical Education in Eastern Oregon school districts.
Meet Chris Wrathall, EMS Program Coordinator and Adjunct Instructor at Blue Mountain Community College.
What do you teach? I coordinate and oversee the EMS program at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton. I also teach several of the classes in our program including Intro into EMS, Crisis Intervention and Fire Dynamics. The biggest and most challenging part of my job is coordinating the EMS program and trying to meet the needs of our local communities and providing a meaningful program that produces well rounded and competent EMTs.
How is CTE work in your school making a difference for students? CTE work in our program allows students to see and work with emergency service personnel, particularly during the clinical part of our program and during our lab days. I hope this helps them to realize there is a light at the end of the tunnel that can translate into a "real" professional career that can be very rewarding. This can be very motivating for students.
What is something people may not know about CTE? The great thing about CTE in the EMS Program is it mandates that students participate in hands-on skills at some level during clinicals. Also, all of my instructors, including myself, have either worked in the field of Fire and EMS or are currently working in those fields. This provides a real opportunity for the students to learn from local industry professionals.