The Mojave Project is an eight – week career readiness training program geared towards high school juniors and seniors to provide practical curriculum enrichment for career and technical education courses’ industry certification. The goal is gainful employment in high demand occupations which lead to living-wage employment in Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (AFNR) industry. The Mojave Project chose occupations in the AFNR industry which are associated with entry-level certifications honored by Texas Education Agency (TEA).
The Mojave Project encompasses three modules of training with continued career readiness foundational skills reiterated, such that:
Module 1
Employment Readiness
Module 2
Pre-apprentice Training
Module 3
Occupational Training
The employment readiness and the pre-apprentice modules enhance curriculum, whereas the occupational training program is a continuing education unit (CEUs) for graduated seniors. Each course, in modules one and two, is an extension to the traditional agricultural classroom an instruction such that guidance to potential supervised agricultural experiences (SAEs). In addition, the training program contains the required skills, knowledge, and, abilities with 15 hours of teacher-facilitated online instruction and 30 hours of practical application mentorship with industry leaders.
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3
Prior to the beginning of the program’s initial start date, all associated classroom teachers will participate in a train the trainer workshop covering the overall literacy and application standards specified for each module. Classroom teachers will review the lesson plans and objectives for each module, participate in simulated lab exercises and, learn techniques for integrating standards into the lesson plans. Upon successful completion of this program, learners will have adequate knowledge and practical application experiences to support the success of the industry certification exam.