Wayne Magazine Back to School 2019 | Page 34

education Reading, Writing and Auto Repairs At Passaic County Technical Institute, students prepare for post-graduation careers P assaic County Technical Institute in Wayne is not your average high school – its 3,700 stu- dents spend much of their time building parts for NASA, cooking professional-quality meals and working in paid co-ops for real-world experience. But that’s just part of the picture. The school opened its doors in Wayne over 40 years ago. Today, PCTI has programs in engineering, culinary arts, auto technology, arts, business and construction tech- nology. “Our programs are industry-driven. As we grow 32 BACK TO SCHOOL 2019 WAYNE MAGAZINE and expand, we look at the industry demand and provide the training in accordance to that,” says Mark A. Cacace, the supervisor of instruction. “We prepare students for college and career readiness, so whether they decide to pursue higher education or not, they’ll have the experience they need to succeed.” Students spend from 100 minutes (freshman, sophomore and junior students) to 140 minutes (seniors) per day in their technical areas. Meet four of them here. WRITTEN BY ISAIAH McCALL