Career classrooms become hot ticket
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About 20 years ago, Megan Trail's high school counselor asked why such a promising student was choosing a construction job over a college education.
Zoom in: Today, Trail leads three new HVAC classes at Cherry Creek Innovation Campus in Centennial, where enrollment has more than tripled in seven years and the school's finishing a $100 million expansion.
Whatever you do, don't call this a trade school.
- "Schools used to beg for attendance and enrollment in programs like this," Trail tells Axios. "Now, we're turning away students."
Why it matters: Career and technical education (CTE) once carried a stigma as a fallback for kids who couldn't cut it academically.
- But as college tuition climbs and AI fundamentally changes work, parents value options that let teens test career skills, earn credentials and rule out bad fits.
The Cherry Creek School District school now offers 24 "pathways," where students can earn college credit, industry credentials and work experience.
- CCIC added nine pathways this school year, including HVAC, veterinary assistant and aerospace technician.
- About 300 students are on CCIC's wait list.
How it works: A lottery places district students — not including freshmen — in morning or afternoon blocks.
At CCIC, enrollment has exploded. About 700 students attended when the school opened in 2019.
- There are roughly 2,500 today.
- Trail's "learning lab" has 72 students across three classes. Some have told her their parents pushed them to enroll.
- They can eventually earn OSHA 10, EPA Section 608 and NATE Ready-to-Work credentials.
"This is the Disneyland of high schools," principal Steve Day says.
Zoom out: A May 2026 analysis found 400 vocational or CTE high schools nationwide — up from 254 a decade earlier.
In the room: Day says parents "want to understand the return on investment, and that's a huge piece of what we're offering here."
- Seventy-five percent of CCIC students continue on to college.
Between the lines: Discount Tire equipped a new CCIC auto training bay with the same tools its employees use. Carrier, an HVAC company, donated about $300,000 after helping CCIC design its lab.
- Aurora Animal Shelter will soon send adoptable animals to CCIC's new surgical suite for veterinarian-led exams, vaccines and spay-neuter procedures.
What's next: CCIC expects enrollment to reach 3,300 as new pathways add second-year classes.
- Day says new automotive bays should open next month. A 70,000-square-foot wing housing aerospace, manufacturing, baking, film and motion-design programs should open in November.
- The school's Pathways Pavilion opens in December.