After flying all the way from Washington D.C. on Monday, Oct. 7, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical and Adult Education Scott Stump spent his morning touring the facilities at the high school. Assistant Secretary Stump was already planning to visit Wichita to speak at a conference when City Manager Robert Myers contacted him. 

“He knew I was in the area and said, ‘You really need to see what is going on here’,” Stump said.

Followed by an entourage of people, Stump toured the outdoor Career and Technical Education (CTE)  programs and spoke to the students and staff of these programs. While he tours high school programs similar to the high schools’, Stump believes that this one sticks out because of the size of the district.

“For the size, to me, this is an anomaly. Most of the smaller centers that are serving populations this size maybe only offer four or five pathways. But to have a robust robotics program, engineering, auto, welding and taking the step with the agricultural career academy is a bold one that many programs across the country don’t have,” Stump said.

Students from the machining, agriculture, robotics and welding programs prepared short speeches for the Assistant Secretary’s visit. During the machining facility tour, two students who travel to the high school from the surrounding area districts were able to present their experience with the program.

“He asked for a volunteer, we raised our hands and he said, ‘Okay, this is what you are going to do.’ We were trying to expect the things he was going to ask. We hit all the marks I believe,” Remington High School senior Ashton Lowen said.

Not all of the students who spoke to Stump were scheduled though. While holding a door open for Stump, junior Eli Reddington had the opportunity to make conversation. After speaking to him about his interest in politics, Reddington was given a business card and an offer to do a job shadow in D.C. in Stump’s department. Reddington said he has his timing to thank for this opportunity.

“I showed up on time, I got to come in here and set up the classroom for him and he just happened to be here at the same time. I told him about my aspirations in politics and then we talked about when he was in FFA and 4-H,” Reddington said.