HANCEVILLE — Cullman County’s top education administrators provided updates to the current and future focuses of their respective campuses on Friday, April 21, during the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of Education Luncheon.

Cullman City Schools Superintendent Kyle Kallhoff, Cullman County Schools Superintendent Shane Barnette and Wallace State Community College President Vicki Karolewics each shared their insights, largely centered around STEM education and preparing students to enter the workforce.

Kerry Neighbors, who serves as the CCBOE School Board President and the vice president of the event’s presenting sponsor Eva Bank, said many of Eva Bank’s employees received their education from at least one of the three represented schools.

“I like to think that I’m a part of the last really awesome generation, but this group really restored faith in humanity for me,” Neighbors said. “There are some bright kids here and they’re a product of their environment. That says a lot for our school systems.”

Kyle Kallhoff — Cullman City Schools

Kallhoff began his presentation by saying, unlike the previous two years, when he discussed capital improvement projects and student achievement, he would be solely discussing CCS’s increased focus to expand STEM education at every grade level.

“What I want to talk today about is STEM education, the importance of it and what we’re doing in our school system to promote and get better at STEM education,” Kallhoff said.

Kallhoff said this focus was an effort to prepare students for three key areas of their future; college, their careers and what he described as the 64/74 concept in which he cited a recent technology conference where one of the speakers predicted within the next 10 years, 64,000 current jobs would be replaced by technology but 74,000 new jobs will be developed in that same timeframe.

“Our task is to prepare students for the workforce of tomorrow, which is technology. So, that’s what we’re doing with STEM. That’s our why with STEM,” Kallhoff said.

When put into practice Kallhoff said CCS plans to develop STEM labs at each of the system’s campuses in the coming years and the expansions at the Cullman City Primary School and Cullman Middle School have accounted for these additions. These classrooms will be used to implement a cross-curricular approach to STEM education starting with exposure at earlier grade levels, exploration at the intermediate level and finally, application throughout high school.

Shane Barnette — Cullman County Schools

Barnette highlighted the CCBOE’s achievements in STEM education as well, referencing the districts upcoming middle school drone competition and a special-needs 4-year-old PreK student who has had some level of recent success in robotics programming.

“Let that sink in for just a minute. When I was 4-years-old we were throwing mud-pies at each other or something like that and this young man is programming a robot and he’s special-needs and he’s in our PreK program at Cullman County Schools. That’s pretty stinking incredible,” Barnette said.

Barnette said the CCBOE’s goal stretched beyond STEM education. Instead, he said the district had made it the goal to “start thinking about being excellent in everything we do.” Barnette pointed to the district’s rise in graduation rates and College and Career Readiness indicators, which contributed to the district being ranked as the number two county school district on last year’s State Report Card.

Barnette said these achievements were that much more remarkable when taking into consideration the amount of challenges the district faced. Barnette said 67% of the district’s students live below the poverty line, and an increased number of those students being raised by their grandparents and great-grandparents were among some of the most pressing concerns. Barnette also said excessive absenteeism, mental health and post-Covid learning loss recovery were all obstacles the CCBOE currently faced.

Barnette also discussed the number of capital improvement projects throughout the district, including the most recent renovations at the Cullman Area Technology Academy. He said in addition to the CATA renovation, the facility now hosted several new programs such as a Health Science program and a Lineman/Fiber Optic program.

“We’re really excited about moving into the dream business of helping young people find out what they want to do and help them be successful at that,” Barnette said.

Vicki Karolewics — Wallace State

Karolewics said the primary focus of WSCC was to address the workforce needs of the surrounding community with the concept that “education transforms lives and communities.” To meet this goal Karolewics said WSCC addressed what she referred to as the “four A’s:”

• Aligning its efforts to meet the current needs of the workforce.
• Accelerating students’ pathway to graduation by shortening programs.
• Acquiring the resources needed to ensure success.
• Achievement of its students.

Karolewics noted WSCC currently boasts one the nations highest community college graduation rates of 91% along with a healthy enrollment of roughly 5,300 students.

Karolewics said WSCC is also allowing its students to enter the workforce more quickly by increasing its focus on work-based learning and expanding its number of offered apprenticeship programs. She said WSCC currently offers 13 unique apprenticeship programs available through 19 community partners, the most recent of which is a teaching apprenticeship program in conjunction with Athens State University, CCS and the CCBOE.

Karolewics said the college has also begun to offer a number of new programs and facilities. When describing the soon-to-be-completed Welding Technical Education Center, Karolewics said representatives from Lincoln Electric recently described the facility as “the most high-tech facility anywhere in the U.S. compared to their facility.”

She said once the facility is completed it will also be used as an incubator for as many as seven businesses.

In the next several weeks, Karolewics said there will be an announcement detailing a $50 million capital investment into the WSCC campus.

“The next two years you will see Wallace State really continue to be transformed in the ways we can really impact the quality of the workforce in Cullman County and Cullman City with our education partners,” Karolewics said.

Finalists and winners of the CCS, CCBOE and WSCC Student and Teacher of the Year and Career Technical Student of the Year Awards were:

Student of the Year finalists

• Mattie Wood — Holly Pond High School
• Eli Keel — Vinemont High School
• Lydia Twilley — Cold Springs High School
• Natalie Garcia — St. Bernard Preparatory School
• Kyra Bales — Hanceville High School
• Heidi Armstong — West Point High School
• Bailey Keef — Good Hope High School
• Madison Clements — Cullman High School
• Eli McCollum — Cullman Christian School

Finalists for Career Technical Student of the Year

• Raigan Easterwood
• Marion Brawell

Award Recipients

• Student of the Year — Zane Roberts (Fairview High School)
• Career Technical Student of the Year — Brandon Caison (Cullman Area Technology Academy)
• Cullman City Elementary Teacher of the Year — Amanda Stidham (Cullman City Primary School)
• Cullman City Secondary Teacher of the Year — Katie McGhee (Cullman Middle School)
• Cullman County Elementary Teacher of the Year — Michelle Pender (Hanceville Elementary School)
• Cullman County Secondary Teacher of the Year — Tracy Boland (Vinemont Middle School)
• Wallace State Teacher of the Year — Heather Ashley (WSCC Nursing Department.
• Wallace State Student of the Year — Rayce Cleghorn