Over the years, the Washoe County School District's Career Technical Education and Signatures Department has funded both state and nationwide competitions for CTE Academies.
This year that is not the case.
While the decision came as a surprise for AACT, they're doing everything they can to make it work for the students.
The culinary team won its state competition and is looking to compete in nationals in Baltimore at the end of the month.
Gifford says it's about $1,800 to $2,000 for each student to make it to the trip.
So, they're hoping to raise about $20,000 and they only have half of that right now.
"Well, they've earned it," said Mike Gifford, Principal for AACT. "They deserve the right to go, so I'm definitely very concerned that there's even an inkling that they might not be able to go. So, we're just going to overturn every stone that we can and make sure that every kid gets this chance that they've earned."
The Washoe County School District said in a statement, "In the Washoe County School District's CTE & Signatures Department, we annually allocate funds to support student participation in both state and national-level events hosted by Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs).
While we are continuing to support students' access to state level competitions, unforeseeable increases in several cost areas have led to us facing a potential shortfall in being able to support students who qualify for national-level competitions. We recognize how hard both our students and their teacher advisors work to participate in these events which enhance their skills and prepare them for the world of work and career. The effort to provide our CTE students with as much access as possible to state and national competitions is a high priority.
Given our limited funding sources, we are looking into other funding possibilities and are hopeful of providing a solution to this budget shortfall in the coming weeks so that our students will be able to participate this year."
Gifford says he's understanding of the situation and is collaborating with the department to see what can be done.
"We know that there's an issue that we have to figure out so what are some possible solutions and we've been working through a lot of different things and I'm hopeful in the near future that we are going to hear some positive news," Gifford said.
Gifford says that in the past, the school has done very well in state competitions, and history did repeat itself this year.
"Tonight, right here in the restaurant that we're standing in our culinary team is having a private dinner for up to 100 guests and every single dollar that comes in goes straight to the students," Gifford said.
Other than the culinary students, the school also competed well in the Skills USA state challenge last week.
So, they're going to need more help in the future.Â
"So, we're looking at sending another 20 students to the nationals in Atlanta this summer," Gifford said.
Other than the dinner, AACT is hosting a gala this Saturday to raise more money for the boosters.
Tickets are still available if you would like to support the school and its students.
AACT Boosters Gala Tickets, Sat, Apr 20, 2024 at 6:00 PM | Eventbrite
