Only one public school program in the Ocean State gives students the opportunity to electronically dissect a human body.

The same school offers virtual reality lessons and will hold an open house in February.

The Scituate CTE (Career & Technology Education) program is also helping fifth-grade students explore potential science and technology careers through a new initiative that combines virtual reality, geographic information systems, and a database of Rhode Island professionals, according to the school.

“The CTE program is seeking professionals who will help build the database by filling out forms that describe their professions,” according to a school press release.

“The Scituate CTE program (grades 9-12) is open to students from all over Rhode Island, and the professional database Scituate is building will be available to anyone over the internet,” said Scituate High Principal Michael Hassell.

Students can use virtual reality headsets provided by partner Polaris MEP to immerse themselves in virtual workplaces in manufacturing, skilled trades, hospitality, and emergency management in the CTE program. They explore other careers using Career Explorer tools provided by partner Nepris.

The program is “a first step in helping elementary students discover interests and talents that could develop into careers,” according to the school.

“There are four stages of adopting a career path: exposure, exploration, experience and expertise,” said Scituate CTE Coordinator Shannon Donovan. “We want to push more exposure down to the elementary level so students can explore their interests. When they get to high school and have to start seriously considering a career path, they will already have an idea of what they like, what they’re good at, and what they might want to do.”

Students create story maps that feature careers of interest in Rhode Island as the final phase of the career exploration program.

“To complete this project, the CTE program needs Rhode Island professionals willing to describe their careers in a new database” Donovan will build, according to the school.

Those professionals who “would like to contribute to the career exploration program,” can complete the form at: https://rb.gy/j2012s.

Donovan plans to make the database public when it is completed, for use across the Ocean State.

“It will be very similar to any professional directory, but it will be searchable and oriented toward elementary-age students,” Donovan said. “Everyone who volunteers to be in the listing supports students in the earliest stages of finding a fulfilling career path.”

Students from Johnston and across Rhode Island can explore technologies of the future and careers of the present in Scituate.

Scituate High School’s CTE (Career and Technical Education) Academies will hold an open house for students interested in engineering, computer science, biomedical science and entrepreneurship careers at 6 p.m. on Feb. 2, according to the school. A potential snow date has been set for Feb. 9.

“The open house begins with a brief orientation in the school auditorium before the program moves to the gym with demonstrations of programs that teach everything from piloting drones to suturing incisions,” according to a Scituate CTE news release. “Students from any community are invited to attend.”

“The CTE engineering academy will demonstrate virtual reality headsets used by manufacturing companies for remote training, maintenance and repair operations,” according to the school. “Prospective students can also see how CTE students learn to pilot drones used to monitor crop growth and inspect buildings, bridges, power lines, etc.”

 “Students interested in medical science careers — such as medical researcher, health policy analyst, and technician — can watch a demonstration of the biomedical academy’s anatomage table,” according to the school. “An anatomage table is a horizontal video screen that enables students to electronically dissect a human body; Scituate CTE is the only Rhode Island public school program that has one.”

“Our students work with exciting, advanced technology in a hands-on learning environment,” Donovan said. “A lot of it will be on display at the open house, and there will be plenty of CTE students there to answer questions. We hope we can help students who are interested in technical careers make good decisions about their futures.”

ON THE WEB

For a full description of the Scituate CTE academies, visit www.cte.scituateschoolsri.net/. Attendees will be required to wear masks, per Rhode Island state COVID-19 regulations.