Aaron and Rachael talk with Erick Leiva, a career and technical education instructor and graduate of Lancaster Career & Technology Center who’s helping students turn hands-on learning into real careers. From building confidence to landing jobs before graduation, Erick shares why CTC programs work, why funding and awareness matter, and why CTE is anything but a backup plan.
Aaron and Rachael talk with Erick Leiva, a career and technical education instructor and graduate of Lancaster Career & Technology Center who’s helping students turn hands-on learning into real careers. From building confidence to landing jobs before graduation, Erick shares why CTC programs work, why funding and awareness matter, and why CTE is anything but a backup plan.
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Voiceover:
Welcome to Duty Free Lunch, the official podcast of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Join us as we unpack the issues that matter most to you. From cutting edge classroom strategies to thought-provoking policy discussions, if it impacts PSEA members, it's on the menu.
Aaron Chapin:
Hello and welcome to Duty Free Lunch. I'm PSEA President Aaron Chapin. Joining me today, PSEA Treasurer, Rachael West. How you doing, Rachael?
Rachael West:
I'm doing great. How are you, Aaron?
Aaron Chapin:
Oh, it's another fantastic day here in Harrisburg.
Rachael West:
Every day's fantastic here in Harrisburg.
Aaron Chapin:
And it's just you and me.
Rachael West:
I know.
Aaron Chapin:
No, Jeff.
Rachael West:
Well, sometimes we have to let him have a day off, I guess.
Aaron Chapin:
I don't know. I think he's starting to shirk his responsibilities.
Rachael West:
Well, I didn't want to say anything, but you and I are here and he's not.
Aaron Chapin:
He seems a bit lazy lately.
Rachael West:
Maybe we need to tell him he needs to take a timeout and think about what he's done.
Aaron Chapin:
Hopefully it's nothing intestinal with him and it's really just him enjoying his time. But hey, today we're going to be talking about career and technical education, Rachael. And we have a great guest with us actually in the studio, too. It's Erick Leiva. He's an instructor for the Painting and Interior Finishes Program at the Lancaster Career and Technology Center. And Erick is not just a teacher at the Lancaster CTC. He's also a graduate of the program that he now leads. So back in 2003, Rachael, he won the Skills USA State Painting Championship as a student. And today, he's the chairperson of the same statewide competition, and he's helping to shape the future of the industry. I think you were also there, too.
Rachael West:
I was going to say, we actually were at that Skills USA competition the last two years.
Aaron Chapin:
That's right. And last April, we were going around there in Lebanon at the expo center. What is it? The convention center, whatever that is.
Rachael West:
Yeah.
Aaron Chapin:
And we came over to Erick's station, and we got to talking and somebody in government relations was like, "We got to get Erick on the podcast."
Rachael West:
Yeah, absolutely. That was such an impressive thing to see.
Aaron Chapin:
Yeah, it was amazing. And we knew we had to have him on the podcast. So Erick, welcome to our podcast. How you doing?
Erick Leiva:
I'm good. Thank you for having me.
Aaron Chapin:
Oh, my gosh. Thank you for coming on out here. I know it's not too far away, but it's always great when we have our guests in the studio. Makes for a little bit nicer of a conversation. But we'll take what we can get, but it's great to have you here. So we're going to start with a nice easy question for you. So you're three years into teaching at Lancaster CTC. What's your favorite part of the job?
Erick Leiva:
Favorite part I would say is seeing the students come from no experience at all. I have students that have never held or used a hand tool, ever. And they come in intimidated, they're scared. And then just seeing the growth day by day. And then by May, they're out there getting jobs, using the skills that I'm teaching them on a daily basis and making some money. So I think just being proud of the progress that they see and the growth that I see on a daily basis.
Aaron Chapin:
Certainly they get a lot of confidence working with all the tools that they have to use with you, right?
Erick Leiva:
Yeah. Confidence is the biggest thing that I focus on. If I could build your confidence, you can achieve anything.
Aaron Chapin:
That's awesome.
Rachael West:
That's awesome. The painting and interior finishes program has expanded a lot under your leadership, I understand. So what changes did you make to the program that were most important to you and why were they important to you?
Erick Leiva:
I think it was important for me to not change, but update certain things, because I came fresh from the field. And right before coming to the school, I owned my own business. So I was fresh out of the field. So I had all this like, "All right, there's stuff that is missing." So for example, pressure washing. So I'm teaching students how to paint exterior, but first we got to wash the house.
So that was kind of like the easy one. So I just had a lot of conversations and trying to get some financial help to buy a pressure washer. And then so that was one of the first things. It just made sense to... I got to teach you how to wash the house first before I teach you how to paint it and prep it. And then last year, I added line striping. So that was one of the things when I owned my business, I felt like line striping was a way for me to make some money. Especially in Lancaster County, there isn't like a line striping company. There's one, but they do big, big projects.
Aaron Chapin:
Yeah.
Erick Leiva:
So that's kind of how I started my business. It was line striping. I learned how to do it, bought a machine. So then me having a machine, I was able to bring it into the classroom and just teach students how to do it. So now we actually bought one.
Aaron Chapin:
Wow.
Rachael West:
That's awesome.
Erick Leiva:
Looking forward to adding that to the curriculum.
Rachael West:
So you mentioned power washing, line striping. Not that I have any idea what line striping is. Maybe you can give us a little window into that, because I'm sure a lot of our listeners also have no idea what that is.
Erick Leiva:
Yeah.
Rachael West:
But I also understand some other skills where you're adding, epoxy flooring.
Erick Leiva:
Yes. So line striping, to answer that question, is parking lots have all these lines where cars park. So no one really thinks about, "How do those lines get there?" So they would hire a line striping company to stripe them out.
Rachael West:
Okay.
Erick Leiva:
So that's that. So epoxy, yes. So I would say during the springtime, I'm always on my social media. So I kept getting ads for epoxy, epoxy, epoxy. So I'm looking into it. It's like some cool stuff for garages, for floors. It's like metallic, confetti. And so, I just started doing some research. And then there's a company, Epoxy Depot from Lebanon. They were doing a workshop over the summer. So I talked to my principal. I said, "Hey, this is something that I want to get into. Can you help me?"
And CDC saw that it was a value to it. And then, I went two days. And I think two days was not enough, but two days was enough for me to get excited to bring it into the classroom. So last week, I had a conversation with a local painting business from Lancaster who already tapped into that for their services. So we're going to be partnering together to how to bring that into the classroom.
Aaron Chapin:
That's awesome.
Erick Leiva:
So I think epoxy flooring is like the next big thing. So it's part of painting. So I'm trying to find ways to connect students to the real world, and epoxy is like the next big thing that's happening.
Rachael West:
Sounds like it might be a little challenging to keep on top of all the things that keep coming around. So how are you handling that challenge?
Erick Leiva:
Very challenging. The first thing I do is I encourage students to show up every single day. So I tell them, "I only have, if you calculate from the beginning of school year to the end, it's 180 days. If you miss one day, you missed a lot."
Now, I give grace periods, so I try to teach the students, "All right, you weren't here yesterday, but let me catch you up."
Very important for them to show up on a daily basis. How do I manage it is I'm a multitasker, and having an agenda on a daily basis. So I know what I'm going to do two weeks from now today and how am I going to add that to the schedule? And a lot of times it all depends on the class. Some class want to work 100%. Some students are just kind of dragging. So I have to be flexible and used my creativity to make sure that everything that I teach happens.
Aaron Chapin:
So your students really have strong job placement and post-secondary success. So in your view, what is it about the CTC education that prepares them so effectively for the real world?
Erick Leiva:
I think in my personal experience, having relationships with painting companies, flooring companies, people that do wallpaper, having those one-on-one relationships. I have these guys on my cell phone, we text, we communicate, I've worked with them. So having that one-on-one relationship allows me to place students in different jobs. And I think CTC, the great thing about us, there's a goal. You come here for 180 days. If you show up every single day, you give us 100% of your attention and you practice these skills, the end result is there's a job or now I'm pushing further education. So I think that's the end result. Kids want to come in here, "How can I make money while I'm a senior?" I think that's the biggest thing is I'm teaching students how to make money with the different skills that I teach.
Aaron Chapin:
So you really have a great partnership with the community.
Erick Leiva:
Yep. So I graduated from the program. I was that student. I didn't know anything. I went into culinary, realized I couldn't slice tomatoes, so that wasn't it for me. The next year, I wanted to be a barber, so I was cutting hair, and I realized I wasn't good at it. So I was, "Okay, what's next?"
And then having good counselors at my homeschool was like, "All right, well, let's take a tour at the CDC."
And I went there and I went from room to room, and when I walked into the painting class, it was just like my eyes just opened and I just saw colors. It was a lot of colors, a lot of some cool stuff. And I was like, "I think this is what I want to do."
But I walked in there with no experience. And that's why I tell my students, "You do not need to have no experience." That was me. I was the one that was touring, had no idea what I was going to do, but I walked in, got to know the teacher, and I was able to build a career since 2003.
Aaron Chapin:
Obviously, that's great for these businesses in the community though, because then they've got possible people to then come and employ them. And obviously we hear all, it's so challenging finding people to go work. And this is a great way... They're helping the kids, but in the end, they're also helping themselves.
Erick Leiva:
And it's hands-on. So I'm teaching a student... So at the beginning of the school year, we go through demolition, because there's a company out there that just focuses on demolition. Then we hang the wallpaper, I mean the drywall, finish the drywall, then we paint. Every skill, there's a company out there that's ready to hire you. So I think the students see that if they come in and know that if I'm learning something this week, I can actually start making money as soon as I learn how to do this. So I think just having a relationship with the people within my community.
Rachael West:
So CTC programs rely heavily on community partnerships and real world learning. I understand they go to job site simulations, different projects that you might be doing in the community, even if they're not making money on it, like they might be doing a project now, internships, industry partnerships. How do you think these experiences give students a different thing that traditional classrooms just can't do? What do you think is the key that makes the difference here for a CTC program versus a traditional classroom?
Erick Leiva:
I think it's the hands-on. So I'll teach a lesson. It could be a 15, 20-minute lesson. And then as soon as I teach that lesson, I'm going to teach you the same lesson with my hands, hands on. So then we'll teach a lesson in the morning or sometimes in the afternoon, but then we'll spend a good amount of time practicing those skills with our hands. But I think that's the difference is, again, that was me in high school. I could go to math class, science class. I could sit there and listen and do the work, but it wasn't sinking in. And then CDC offers you hands-on. So you're learning something and then applying it right away.
Aaron Chapin:
About how many students do you see a day?
Erick Leiva:
In my classroom?
Aaron Chapin:
Yeah.
Erick Leiva:
So I have 20 students that are with me their senior year. So come August all the way till May, they're with me. One of the biggest things and one of the highlights that I like to brag about was that before I became the instructor there, it was about 12 students on the roster. Three years in, this year, current year, I had 20 on the roster already enrolled, and I had 10 on the waiting list.
Aaron Chapin:
Wow.
Erick Leiva:
And right now we're looking into the next class and I already have 12 already on the roster. It's growing. The excitement is there.
Rachael West:
You only have them their senior year?
Erick Leiva:
Their senior year. So I'm a full day senior program.
Rachael West:
Oh, wow. Okay.
Aaron Chapin:
Pretty cool. So you recently took on a leadership role with Skills USA State Painting Competition. So how does that work influence what you bring back to your students and your program then?
Erick Leiva:
So I want to be honest, everything that I'm doing now was never part of the plan. My desire was I'm going to learn how to do this, start a business. The business was great, but I think it was just going back to the classroom and seeing like this is where I was at. It was the desire to say, "What else can I do to get involved?"
So I started off as a substitute teacher, did that for about two years. Then my former instructor said, "Hey, I'm getting ready to retire. What's your plan?"
And I said, "I'm 100% in. What do I need to do?"
So I had to go to school and get some education so I could learn how to teach a class. So it's full circle. So when I got the phone call for Skills USA, that was definitely not part of the plan. So it's a full circle. So every role that I step, everything that I talk about, that I teach, I've experienced it. So I think that's one of the biggest highlights of my programs that students see someone in front of them who has walked what they're walking right now.
So when Skills USA called, I was like, "Okay, tell me the problems. What's going on? Why are you calling me?"
And apparently the person who was running it last year or years before kind of decided, "Hey, I don't want to do this anymore."
So I wanted all the negative things, because I'm a very creative person. And everything that I do, I do it with a heart of excellence. It's like, all right, if I'm going to do something, it has to be to the next level. So yeah, I had some conversations back and forth with people that were involved, and so we started upgrading certain things. And the reason why I wanted to do that is because if I'm applying it in my classroom, like I'm encouraging my students to want to go compete. Right now I have two students getting ready to start competing, to go in April to compete. So I have to prepare them for that experience.
So me not being a part of it, even though I competed many, many years ago, it's nothing like what it looks like now. So I've upgraded all the surfaces. I partnered with businesses like Wooster, Benjamin Moore. So these are companies that have been supporting me for the last three years. And for them, it was like, "All right, what else can we do to take it beyond the classroom?" So the Skills USA is pretty much what can I do? If I found success in my classroom, what can I do outside of my classroom to continue to grow this industry?
Aaron Chapin:
So when you think, Erick, about the future of the trades in Pennsylvania, what role do you think the CTC programs should be playing in strengthening the workforce?
Erick Leiva:
Awareness and funding.
Aaron Chapin:
Funding.
Erick Leiva:
Very important.
Aaron Chapin:
Yeah.
Erick Leiva:
With me, again, owning a business during the summer, I'll go after jobs. I tell my customers, "Listen, I'm a teacher, so a percentage of what I make, what you pay me this week working on your house is going to go towards my classroom."
And then my birthday falls in June. So what I do, I tell people, it's like, "Listen, don't buy me anything. If you're going to give me a gift for my birthday, donate something to the classroom."
Because the reality is, I do have a budget. The reality of that budget is if you narrow it down, it's not enough to buy drywall, paint, pens, paper. These kids come into my classroom, they don't have a pencil, they don't have a book bag. So to me, it's just like, "What can I do to prepare these kids?" Not just... I could teach you a skill. You show up every single day, I'm going to show you how to do something. But if I can't give you the tools that you need on a daily basis, what am I doing? It's just coming from one year to the next. So I think it's hands-on.
Funding, it's very important because it's not enough. The reality is it's not enough funding. So if I don't partner with, let's say Benjamin Moore who donates paint to me, Growers, local stores, Sherwin Williams, if I don't partner, have a relationship with these companies, my budget won't even last the first two weeks. So I've been blessed to have Sherman Williams, Benjamin Moore, Growers, and local painting companies that on a monthly basis are dropping off gallons of paint. So I have not bought any paint in three years.
Aaron Chapin:
Awesome.
Erick Leiva:
I have churches, I have nonprofit organizations that are just giving me Amazon gift cards. And those are things that I still have half of my budget that I haven't touched yet because of donations outside of the school. So funding is big and awareness is... Parents don't realize that CTC is like, it's not a backup plan.
Aaron Chapin:
No, not at all.
Erick Leiva:
CTC is the future. And so awareness, not just for the parents. So if the parents don't have the information, it's because the local schools are not sharing the information. So one of my biggest goals is to connect with the local schools. Last week I had a conversation with a school from Lancaster and I said, "I want to meet with all the counselors."
And we did a Zoom call, and it was about 12 different counselors from that homeschool. And most of them had no idea what I was teaching. So I had to break it down. So my program is called Painting Interior Finishes. So automatically you think it's an art class and it's not. And it's a renovation program. I'm going to teach you how to fix the house, how to fix the building beginning to end. So having that conversation with the counselors, now they're like, "Okay, now that we know what's happening at CTC, now we can start promoting it." So awareness is big and funding for sure is big, too.
Rachael West:
Yeah. I think funding in general for education is never what we think. As a math teacher, I was buying calculators and pens and pencils and paper and binders and things like that. But you don't think about how you're not buying papers and pens and calculators. You're buying paint and drywall. That's a little bit bigger, right?
Erick Leiva:
Nails, caulk, tools. It's not enough.
Rachael West:
Just so much more than what you see in a traditional classroom. And so, the funding is really important there. So what is one message you would want people to understand about the value of any CTC program and CTC education, and the students that choose to go to a CTC program versus doing a traditional just high school program?
Erick Leiva:
I would say, it's not a backup plan. It's not. This is the future. And again, if it wasn't for CTC coming into my life my senior year, I would have graduated. I was going to graduate regardless. But I would have graduated from high school. I would have never thought about pursuing education beyond high school, and I probably would have went and worked at a retail, which there's nothing wrong. And I tell my students, "You're not going to hurt my feelings if you spent your senior year with me and you decide to go work at a retail store. You're not going to break my heart. But I know that when you leave and you walk across that stage, I know that you're able to walk into any building, any house, any facility and make money out of that."
So it's not a backup plan, it's the future. And if students apply these skills that we're teaching on a daily basis, they're going to be set. And then I've encouraged students to further their education. So how can they afford college? Well, now you have some skills. Now you could either go work part-time for a local renovations company... I have a student from last year. She goes to [inaudible 00:18:47] Stevens, which is our college tech school. She goes there during the day and she's studying business, and as soon as she gets out of class, she has jobs in the afternoons. So this young lady is never going to have to work for anyone in her life, because she learned nine months with me how to renovate a house, these skills. She decided to go to business. So in two years, she's going to have an associate's degree in business, and she's going to be her own boss.
Aaron Chapin:
Wow.
Erick Leiva:
By the age of 20, she'll have a full-out business that she's created in these last couple of years.
Aaron Chapin:
What a teacher. What a teacher. Rachael?
Rachael West:
It's a great program.
Aaron Chapin:
Yeah. Pop quiz time.
Rachael West:
Excellent. I promise it won't be incredibly difficult.
Aaron Chapin:
I'm ready.
Rachael West:
You ready? All right. If you could change or improve one thing about CTC education and how it's supported statewide, whether funding, awareness, recruitment, what would be the one thing you would change right now?
Erick Leiva:
Recruitment. I have no control of who comes into my classroom. I have no control of who... I have no idea who makes the decisions. And I realized that last year. And now that I'm three years in, I'm like, "Okay, I'm not a baby anymore. I know my curriculum. I'm confident I could teach this. I could create a lesson within a couple of minutes. I know how to do this. And I have the skills. I have over 20 years of hands-on skills."
But what I don't understand and what I wish I could change is the recruitment because just this year alone, I've met six students from the three different campuses that chose me as their first choice and somehow went into their second choice. And then, I have students that are in my roster who I was their second choice, but they're in my classroom. So the reason why I would love to get more involved with the recruitment is because there's somebody, some student at their homeschool right now in a math class that's like frustrated because it's like, "This is not... I don't want to do this. I'm good with my hands." And they didn't make the roster. Not just for my program, for all the programs.
So it's like, who makes these decisions? How do you make these decisions? So I would love to get involved. I think that'll make a difference because if a student applies and they take the tour and they're doing all that paperwork, how do they end up not being chosen? So I think that's big.
Aaron Chapin:
Well, this was a remarkable podcast. I am so thankful that we walked down that hallway all the way down to where the painting was, and we met you. And it was like it was meant to be for us to encounter you and hear your story because it's just remarkable.
Erick Leiva:
Thank you.
Aaron Chapin:
And you got a great podcast voice.
Rachael West:
Yes, you do.
Erick Leiva:
Oh, thank you.
Aaron Chapin:
It's very smooth. The guys over there are like, "Yeah, all right."
So thank you very much for joining us. Thanks for everything you do for our students. Your students are really lucky to have you.
Rachael West:
Absolutely.
Erick Leiva:
Appreciate it. Thank you.
Rachael West:
I'm sure they love being in your class. You have the passion to make kids really want to follow you.
Erick Leiva:
And that's the goal. I tell them, "My relationship with you doesn't end when I give you that certificate. I'm here. I have your back to the end."
Aaron Chapin:
We meet enough educators and people that we can always spot the real deal. And Erick, you are just absolutely phenomenal.
Erick Leiva:
Thank you.
Aaron Chapin:
Thank you for just being you. And I'm sure that's what brings the kids to that classroom.
That does it for our time today. Our guest today has been Erick Leiva. And thank you so much again for joining us in the studio, Erick. If you got any feedback for us out there, you got to send us an email to podcast@psea.org. I'm Aaron Chapin.
Rachael West:
And I'm Rachael West.
Aaron Chapin:
And you have been listening to Duty Free Lunch. Bye for now.
Voiceover:
You've been listening to Duty Free Lunch with the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Visit psea.org/podcast to learn more, and don't forget to subscribe and share. Paid for by the Pennsylvania State Education Association.