Students at the cusp of adulthood face one of the most challenging decisions of their lives: choosing a career.

For some students, this may be a fast and final decision, but for most, the process can be lengthy and daunting.

Often, one of the first steps a student will take in choosing a career path is deciding whether he or she would like to spend four or more years at college ... or go to a community college or a technical school for two years ... or simply go straight from high school to a job.

For many students, vocational/technical courses such as those offered at area high schools can be the jumpstart they need to try out a career idea, and find out if they are on the right path.

These studies often include subjects such as welding, computer programing, medical training, cosmetology, civil services, mechanics, and engineering.

On Friday afternoon, Dr. Danielle Mezera, the new Assistant Commissioner for Career and Technical Education (CTE) for the Tennessee Department of Education, joined state Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-11th, of Cosby, in touring two county schools: South Greene High School and the Greeneville-Greene County Center for Technology.

Rep. Faison said he arranged the tour to raise awareness of technical education as a career pathway, and to give vocational/technical educators a chance to address their concerns directly to the state official with responsibility in the area of Career and Technical Education.

Friday's stops at the two local schools were among many other visits that he said he has made in his freshman term in office. He said that he has visited with more than 300 teachers to learn more about how state legislation affects the classroom.

Faison explained that he has noticed that CTE teachers are frustrated with the extensive new state requirements for student achievement evaluations that are designed in ways that do not properly apply to CTE classrooms.

In light of this situation, he said he brought Mezera to find ways to aid these teachers.

"This really gets to the heart of what I want to do," Mezera said of the tour.

At South Greene, Assistant Commissioner Mazera met with South Greene Principal Cindy Bowman, School Board Member Kathy Austin, County High School Supervisor Wayland Seaton and Greene County Assistant Director of Schools Judy Phillips.

Seaton emphasized the importance of CTE options in area schools.

"It's all career education," he said, referring to both core curriculum courses and CTE courses.

"I'm passionate about college education," Faison agreed. "[But,]... the reality is that we're not all going to college."

Instead, he said there needs to be more of an emphasis on programs for students interested in the alternatives to college, to assist them to become the best "blue-collared" workers they can become.

Austin and Bowman agreed with Faison, pointing out that such jobs are honorable and, in fact, often draw larger paychecks than careers that require a college education.

Bowman explained to Mezera that, in Greene County, the school system has recently began to focus on ways to train students for jobs that are specifically needed in this area, such as welders and pharmacology technicians.

"That's why we think it's critical, and we want to place an emphasis on CTE and the areas that we need this," she said, noting that such positions can often remain unfilled in Greene County.

At South Greene, all students also learn "soft skills," Bowman said, that include looking someone in the eyes when you shake their hand, how to speak in an interview, and how to fill out a job application.

"Hats off to you guys," Mezera said, praising the school system for focusing on real vocational needs in the area.

"The last thing you want to do is to prepare [students] for careers and opportunities that don't exist."

Seaton went on to explain that students can graduate from high school as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) and can then easily transition to becoming a licensed practical nurse (LPN) through a free course at Laughlin Memorial Hospital, and can move even farther to become a registered nurse (RN).

Such pathways are a part of the system's new CTE initiatives and are valuable in that they offer students the chance to "go as far as they want" but also to "get off the path whenever they want," he said.

"That's exactly right," Mezera said, comically adding that she wished she could clone the school officials here and have them share their ideas across the state.

However, the county is not without its struggles in this area as well.

Of the many instructors that Mezera spoke with during her tour, almost all expressed a common concern with the amount of time students have in their schedule to take CTE courses.

In Greene County, the large majority of CTE classes are only offered at the Center for Technology, although some schools such as South Greene offer a few CTE-type courses on site.

Because of travel time, the fact that almost all CTE courses are given at the Center for Technology requires students to spend a half-day at the center.

Being able to do that can quickly become a struggle when the student is also trying to meet the many core requirements of his or her schedule.

With so many mathematics, English, history and foreign language classes as requirements, electives such as CTE courses often get overlooked, the teachers said Friday.

A common solution on the minds of both Bowman and Center for Technology Principal Jerry Ayers, they said, was to incorporate more of these classes into the curriculum at locations where the core courses are given.

For Bowman at South Greene, this would mean a need for more space to expand CTE programs, she said.

That expansion, of course, would require funding -- funding that has been drastically cut in recent years, as many of the instructors pointed out.

For Ayers, however, the potential solution could be adding a math teacher at the Center for Technology, he said.

He stated that such a solution would make good sense because math is such an important component to so many of the Center's programs.

Such an arrangement would give students the opportunity to take one elective while at the Center, in addition to a core course, he said.

Even with such solutions, Mezera said that scheduling "will always continue to be something we need to consider."

As it stands, however, she maintained that Greene County is "ahead of the curve" with the many programs and opportunities available to the students.