On April 17th, 2025, many Career-Technical Education (CTE) classes held their annual research project presentations. For the Digital Media Career Academy (DMCA), this presentation was one of the major projects for the fourth quarter.
Along with their internship, students were tasked with researching a topic related to a potential career pathway. Adobe Advanced Studies and Career Management teacher Ms. Graham says, “It’s like a more advanced personal project because students use outside resources and research, such as internships and mentorships.” As part of graduation for CTE, seniors in advanced studies or internship classes are required to complete this assignment. Therefore, there’s a lot of pressure and preparation that goes into these presentations.
On the day of the presentations, students headed to the Media Center during their CTE period to showcase their research and final products. However, compared to the annual personal projects for sophomores, the grading for the CTE research presentations is quite different.
The key difference is that Wake County school board members grade the presentations. Before the presentation, there was a lot of uncertainty and anxiety among students, especially since there had been numerous changes to requirements over the summer for the internship classes from Wake County. Nevertheless, many students found the presentation to be more casual than anticipated.
Senior Lydia Terdik said, “I was relieved that it had gone well. I was expecting a little different set-up of the interviews; however, I think that the two people interviewing worked well.” But seniors can’t rest yet; for the rest of the fourth quarter, they’ll be focusing on the presentation about their internships on May 5th. As a reward for graduating seniors in the DMCA, along with other advanced CTE courses, they’ll be able to receive a cord and pin for all their hard work.
