The William S. Hart Union High School District was recently awarded the Golden Bell Award by the California School Boards Association for its Career and College Readiness Extended Day Afterschool Pathway Course Opportunities, which aims to increase career pathway completion and focus on workforce development efforts.
The program supports over 37% of the district’s high school students enrolled in Career Technical Education courses annually, which leads to real world preparation as students train under industry-standard equipment across fields ranging from cybersecurity, engineering, and auto technology to medical assisting, fire science and entrepreneurship, while earning nationally recognized certifications and completing local work-based learning agreements, a district news release stated.
The CCR EXD Program was introduced after high school students were restricted to CTE courses only offered at their home campuses during regular school hours, requiring them to choose between career training opportunities and other extracurricular activities.
“By offering flexible in-person, online, and hybrid classes after the traditional school day, CCR EXD removed these scheduling barriers, granting all students districtwide equitable access to CTE pathways,” the release stated.
Hart district board President Joe Messina, an advocate for career technical education pathways who hopes to one day establish a CTE center, said the award was a testament to the efforts of district leaders and the community to provide students with opportunities beyond the traditional college pathway.
“All these students need to have options. There’s so many things out there that these students should have an opportunity to see and be a part of,” he said. “I think when it comes to the trades, when it comes to plumbers, carpenters, electricians, architects, those are all things they should have the opportunity to go to try.”
Enrollment for the Extended Day courses has grown from 851 students in the 2022-23 school year to almost 1,300 in the 2025-26 school year, according to the release, and Messina credited the high student interest to students immediately entering the workforce with internships and other opportunities following graduation.
To reach students of all demographics, Messina stated district staff expose the students to the CTE programs available as an alternative for them to explore.
“There are kids from all walks of life learning and helping each other out. They’re not in competition with each other — they’re enjoying the same thing and having a finished product that they can all be proud of.”
In the future, Messina envisions to expand the program and at some point have a CTE center that will serve as a hub for trades such as carpentry and plumbing, but also noted securing teachers poses a challenge.
The recognition of the Golden Bell Award is just the beginning for Messina. “I think we push the gas pedal to the floor. It shows we can get it done. I want a full-blown career tech center. We deserve it,” he said. “We’re a great community, we should have one and now that we’ve shown we can make it happen, we should be able to pull it together.”
“By offering CTE pathways outside the traditional school day, we ensure that every student, regardless of home school site or extracurricular commitments, can graduate with career-readiness skills and a clearer path to their future,” Hart district Superintendent Michael Vierra stated in the news release. “This isn’t just about offering after-school classes; it’s about ensuring all our students graduate opportunity-ready to achieve post-secondary success.”
