Mangin, a registered architect, has taught for 16 years; she teaches architecture, engineering, and manufacturing classes at Heritage
VANCOUVER — Susan Mangin, CTE teacher at Heritage High School, was the recipient of the Washington Industrial Technology Education Association (WITEA) Teacher of the Year Award in March.
Mangin, a registered architect, has taught for 16 years. She teaches architecture, engineering, and manufacturing classes at Heritage. Her classes are project-based, because she believes the best way to learn is by doing.
“Students love Susan’s classes because they know that they are going to do fun projects, with high rigor that are connected either to their future pathway, or to the betterment of their school or their community,” said CTE program manager, John Akers. “The projects Susan assigns in class give students an idea of the types of tasks they would asked to do on the job. Susan brings real world architecture into the classroom.”
Last year, Mangin’s manufacturing class project culminated in the mass production of 40 wooden toy trucks. The students donated 20 of them to the Clark County YWCA SafeChoice program for children in families affected by domestic violence.
Two teams of students from Mangin’s Architecture class were recently selected to present their work to professional architects in a citywide symposium. Earlier in March of this year, six of her female students attended a Women Build clinic at Evergreen Habitat for Humanity, and three of them returned to volunteer for eight hours the following Saturday.
Susan is a leader among the CTE faculty members who teach STEM subjects. She always gives of her time to mentor new teachers as they come into the program.,” said Akers. “She has personally built programs in two of our high schools that currently offer dual credit. She is the lead that oversees all of our dual credit in Architecture.” Mangin was among the first teachers trained in the pre-engineering program. Integral pieces of her program have been duplicated at all four Evergreen School District high schools.
About CTE
CTE prepares learners for the world of work by introducing them to workplace competencies, and makes academic content accessible to students by providing it in a hands-on context. Over 125 CTE courses in Evergreen Public Schools allow students to explore high-wage, high-skill, high-demand careers in emerging industries. Forty-nine of these courses also fulfill core requirements for graduation. Students have the opportunity to earn college credits while taking many of the courses offered in CTE. The 2016 graduation rate among Evergreen Public Schools CTE students was 90%. Nationally, about 12.5 million high school and college students are enrolled in CTE pathways.
To learn more, go to evergreenps.org/departments/CCTE.
Information provided by Evergreen School District.
