The Pascagoula – Gautier School District is committed to Career Technical Education. The CCTI (College & Career Technical Institute) currently has 14 programs and is adding 2 to 3 new programs in upcoming years.
Next year, they are piloting the Computer Engineering class, which will partner with the City of Moss Point, Jackson County, Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding and the Gulf Shipbuilding Consortium on starting a program at Ingalls Shipbuilding called the Shipbuilding Academy, available to seniors who have completed two years of a CTE program. There is an articulation agreement with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College that students completing two years of a CTE program and having an overall “B” average receive full tuition to MGCCC in a CTE program of study.
This is the third year of the Mississippi Scholars Tech Master program in the school district, and the number of participants has increased each year as Career Technical Education becomes more of a focal point in the community and throughout the state.
The CCTI has partnered with the University of Southern Mississippi, creating a Teacher Academy scholarship for students completing two years of Teacher Academy and meeting certain criteria. William Carey University has matched that scholarship.
The district’s engineering program has also partnered with Mississippi State University, NASA and MGCCC as well with two engineering degrees being offered through MSU at the Jackson County campus.