Aubrey celebrates third CTE Signing Day
Aubrey High School celebrated its third Career and Technical Education signing day with its largest class of signees—14.
The ceremony, held in the gym with students lining both sides of the gym on April 10.
“This is something that is extremely fulfi lling because each year we see more and more students participating,” AISD Director of CTE and Accountability Dr. Jonathan Lee said. “… It’s growing into something more and more special each year, and I’m really proud of these students and excited for the
Abigail Allen/The Post-Signal future.”
Journalism teacher Melanie Nowak organized the event and compiled the information, and communications teacher Jimilee Rempe introduced the students to the crowd, reading about their futures and their personal statements.
“We are here to celebrate the accomplishments that all of our students have gone through,” Rempe said. “They have gone through multiple classes, multiple hours of testing, certifications, internships, out-ternships, volunteer hours.”
Bree James, who will attend the East Texas Baptist University to pursue an education degree to be a fourth-grade teacher, was the first signee recognized.
“Aubrey CTE has given me the opportunity to practice the skills needed to be a great educator,” James wrote.
Colby Luttrell, who is certified in small business and entrepreneurship in April 2024, and he plans to use the skills he learns to expand his business.
“Colby has a personal statement,” Rempe said, “He says, ‘Thank you to my mom, Sarah Braggs.’“ Three young men shared a table decorated in U.S. flags, as the trio have opted to enlist in branches of the military.
Aidan Mckeehen, who is also certified in small business and entrepreneurship, chose the Marine Corps.
“Marine Corps is the hardest challenge, and so I chose the hardest challenge out of all of the branches,” he said.
Next to him, Tyler Stuckey, who studied health sciences, selected the Army for his future.
“I’m excited to serve our country and I can’t wait to experience and learn along the way,” he wrote. “… I have a 5 year contract with the Army and plan on staying for longer after but that could always change.”
The third military enlistee, Blaine Moore, business in CTE courses and has opted for the Navy with the goal of becoming a Navy diver.
“I’ve put in a lot of hard work to be above the bar for making it into the Navy,” Moore wrote. “I am very excited to see what God has planned for me.”
Lulu King, who studied sports medicine in CTE, is headed for the University of Louisiana Monroe, where she will study kinesiology and participate in the track and field team.
Her goal is to become an athletic trainer.
“I got a chance to experience the first steps of getting to be an athletic trainer,” she said, adding that it helped her confirm that she’s passionate about the field.
She also believes her background as an athlete will benefit her in that career.
“I’ve been in their shoes,” King said.
Brooke McAlister, who is going to Oklahoma State University, has focused on pre-veterinary medicine through her CTE courses.
“A lot of people graduate and they don’t know what they want to do and where they want to go from here, and so this program has really allowed me to understand what I want to do and where I want to go and really find a career path that I’m passionate about and love to do,” she said.
She added that her parents have helped her value education, and that her former ag teachers Jennifer Gilbreath and Traci Broom helped push her along her path.
Next up was Nathan Hough, who plans to study cyber security at Ouachita Baptist University, said the CTE courses he took allowed him to test out what he wanted to pursue.
“I did sports medicine, I did floral design, I did ag mech, and I’ve done sports all throughout, just everything,” Hough said. “It really has let me learn different skills, learn different traits and abilities, to just try everything and learn that failure is OK because I’m not going to be great at everything.”
Ace Chavez, who is certified in Adobe, plans to become a tattoo artist in the future with the skills he learned at Aubrey High School.
“It was easy and creative, I enjoyed the handson experience I had with graphic design,” Chavez said. “… I want to thank everyone who believes I can do something great,” Ace said.
Joseph Brown is also certified in Adobe.
“He plans to go to college for music and thanks to Jason Noyes,” he said.
Austin Green also focused on graphic design in CTE and plans to go into music production when he goes to Full Sail University.
Tobey Davis, who has focused on ag mech and welding in his CTE courses, is set to go to Northwest Lineman College to become an electrical lineman.
“Shoutout to Coach McNabb,” Davis said with his personal statement.
Christian Leyva, who focused on ag mech, is contracted to work with Holt Cat after graduation, as is Vaughn Paben, who also studied ag mech.
Having an internship at Holt Cat has helped him refine his mechanical knowledge and to be excited about his future.
“A lot of the same skills and same practices apply,” Vaughn said. “It’s just they go further in depth than that. You really get to get deep in the field you’re interested in.”
His mother, Marci Paben, loved seeing his internship turn into a career.
“It gave him an opportunity to find a career now that he loves and it has a really great future without a bunch of student debt,” she said.
Following their signing, Workforce Development Liaison Rick Elmore stepped forward from Holt Cat to present a $5,000 check to the Aubrey Education Foundation.
