MARYSVILLE — Marysville School District students and faculty spoke with the school district’s community partners and business owners Oct. 7 at an open house in the district’s Board room.

Tracy Suchan Toothaker, principal of Marysville-Pilchuck High School and planning principal for Marysville-Getchell High School, explained that the purpose of the open house was to provide information on how utilizing students for internship, pre-apprenticeship, and job shadow opportunities can benefit businesses, the community and students alike.

“It’s not a job fair,” Suchan Toothaker said. “It’s a showcase of our students’ skills and leadership. People sometimes perceive teenagers as unfocused, but we have students who are passionate about the programs they’ve chosen.”

All eight of the district’s high schools had representatives at the open house, which also displayed district career and technical education programs.

M-PHS DECA President Maribel Montes and FBLA President Rosa Chavez represented the School for the Entrepreneur, touting its lessons in “what the business world is about.”

“We know about hard work and responsibility,” said Montes, who noted that the School for the Entrepreneur covers subjects ranging from job interviews to business math and management. “Our school prepares students to help businesses. We like donating our time to do volunteer work.”

The Academy of Construction and Engineering was represented by construction teacher Glenn Owen and engineering and architecture teacher Larry Stokes, who described their students’ courses of study, in subjects ranging from architecture to mechanical and electrical work, as furnishing community members with essential needs.

“We all need people who can design, build and repair buildings,” Stokes said. “Without students who know how to do these things, you don’t even have a home.”

While ACE makes sure its students are qualified to attend community colleges and four-year universities, it also prepares them for employment immediately after graduation from high school.

Courage Benally, a cultural art teacher with Heritage High School, showed off his students’ silversmithing and woodcarving. He sees tribal artwork as a growth industry, and believes that developing their own art styles helps students get in touch with their cultural roots and themselves.