Klamath County School District officials and community partners on Tuesday described an expanding set of career‑technical education and paid internship programs that aim to connect high‑school students — especially those at risk of dropping out — to health‑care and construction careers.

District staff member Jeff (last name not specified) introduced Klamath Works, which piloted a third‑party summer internship program last year after the district found the logistics of operating a summer paid internship program burdensome. “One of our partners for a number of years now has been Klamath Works,” Jeff said, and the district is continuing the partnership this summer using grant funds.

Nut graf: Partners said the programs tie classroom CTE courses to paid work, pre‑apprenticeship training and college pathways so students can graduate with job experience, college credit or direct entry into local employers. The effort focuses on rural schools and students with high barriers to employment and uses grant funding and employer partnerships rather than a new district payroll operation.

Klamath Works director Joy described the nonprofit’s shift from adult services into youth programming: “We are a private nonprofit that was just formed here locally by a group of Klamath County citizens,” she said, and staff deliver “adulting 101” life‑skills classes and paid internships targeted to students who are behind on credits or at risk of dropout. Project manager Sean said the “biggest focus is like being career ready, finding a purpose, writing a resume, building out applications, dressing appropriately.”

Klamath Works reported operating multiple programs: a federally funded YouthBuild‑style program (50% academics, 40% skill attainment, 10% leadership), a youth “ambassador” paid placement at Sky Lakes and other employers, and last summer’s internship rollout that employed 78 students for about 13,000 hours. Joy said the organization serves about 170 unique adult clients per quarter, and the youth internship work is funded through a mix of grants; this year the nonprofit has “a little over $100,000 to be able to pay,” she said.

Sky Lakes CHRO Brian Dixon spoke for health‑sector partners and described an expanding pipeline linking high‑school health‑occupations classes to hospital employment and college credentialing. “Representing healthcare, we’re the largest private employer here in the area at Sky Lakes,” Dixon said. He described ambassador programs that let students work paid 12‑week rotations in clinics, surgery, therapy and hospital floors and said Sky Lakes hires regionally but aims to hire more locally trained students.

Michelle Preston, associate dean at Oregon Tech (Oregon Institute of Technology), said the institution is partnering on dual‑credit and apprenticeship pathways and is part of a GEAR UP project the partners plan to pursue. “Very excited to be part of the CTE project initiative and our GEAR UP project as well,” Preston said.

Partners described a three‑year roadmap to create a county CTE center in an existing building near the hospital; the center would centralize labs, enable remote instruction for outlying schools, and host concentrator courses such as CNA and medical‑assistant pre‑apprenticeships. Dixon said partners plan a pilot this fall that would combine teacher staffing and Skylakes‑supported instructors; he also said the partners are not asking the board for funding at this time and are moving forward largely with grant dollars.

Support and limits: presenters said the programs are resource‑intensive. Joy and Sean described heavy staff time spent matching youth to employers, supervising placements and troubleshooting non‑attendance or other barriers; Joy said the program currently works with “a little over 90 employers” and that employer mentorship is an explicit expectation. Dixon and Preston described scholarship and hire‑back arrangements that can require students to commit to work for the partner if they accept a sponsored education package.

No formal board action was requested. Board members and the superintendent praised the partnerships and asked questions about scale; presenters said capacity this year will be smaller than last because funding is lower than the prior year’s pilot.

Ending: District staff said they will continue planning with partners, run the summer internship offerings with existing grant funds, and hold a working session with teachers and administrators on a draft CTE facility remodel next week.