Saddleback Valley Unified School District

Saddleback Mountains overlooking RSM Lake

Career Technical Education

CTE Pathways

Career Technical Education (CTE) increases academic performance as well as motivation and engagement in the classroom. Students gain valuable employability and technical skills needed for success in today’s economy and are better prepared for post-secondary education and high-wage, high-skills careers.

Last year, over 4,500 SVUSD intermediate and high school students were enrolled in a CTE course. Our Career Pathways cover several industry sectors, including agriculture, architecture, arts, automotive, computer science, culinary, digital media, engineering, entertainment, health science, and more. CTE provides students with real-world scenarios and the future-ready skills employers desire, such as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, adaptability, resiliency, and an entrepreneurial mindset. 

Career Technical Education Logo

 

For more information regarding enrolling in a CTE program, please see your school counselor.

CTE General Information

 

 

Spotlight on CTE Pathways

 

ocMaker Challenge 2024 Winners

2024 OC Maker Challenge Award Winners

 

Students from the La Paz Intermediate STEM Pathway and ETHS, MVHS, and THHS Engineering Pathway participated in the ocMaker Challenge. 


The challenge to Orange County elementary, intermediate, and high school students was to “Design and build, or significantly repurpose a product that would solve a problem, need or want.” There were 167 projects entered into the competition.  SVUSD won several placements and awards at the secondary level, and we even ran the entire Division B Level 2 category! There is a special award known as Emerging Entrepreneurs, which Chapman University sponsors. The Collapsible Kitchen invention developed by THHS students secured 1st Place in the Division B Level 2 category AND was chosen by Chapman University for the Emerging Entrepreneurs award. This award holds immense prestige as it is selected by Chapman faculty at the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Ethics.


The winners of the 2023-2024 ocMaker Challenge can be found here. Details of the winning teams and their projects can be found on the ocMaker Challenge website.

Teacher Project Name Place/Category
Phil Ureno, Trabuco Hills HS

Splat Guard

1st Place (Division B, Level 1)

Fire Guard

1st Place (Division B, App Augmented)

Fire Guard

Overall Winner: Most Innovative (9-12)

SolX

Overall Winner: Tooling and Fabrication (9-12)
Matt Bettino, La Paz Intermediate Stress Less Overall Winner: Tooling and Fabrication (6-8)