While taking classes at Liberty, it may be difficult to find one’s passion—after all, there are infinite choices: art, computer, and literature being a few of the many.
But in the midst of these choices, certain courses await: CTE courses. Enabling kids to discover new fields, from computer science to video production, they can involve a student in the field of their choice and allow them to develop important skills for entering real-world jobs in the future.
Although senior Elise Ferencz already knew that the world of film was for her, she took Video Production, helping her develop her specialized skill set for the future.
“I took it after I knew what I was going to do, but it’s nice to have a period in the day where I can focus on what I’m going to do and bring in skills I’ve learned outside of the class.”

Michael Butterworth, teacher of Video Production among other CTE courses, hopes to foster creativity in his courses via the projects he assigns in his classes. As one of Butterworth’s students who decided to pursue the career his class explores, Ferencz loves how open his class is and how Butterworth gives his students freedom to do explore.
“He really gives us freedom to do what we want to do, and if we want to explore something interesting, we can do that, and I just think that we have a lot of space to do what we want to do and explore creatively.”
CTE courses are much more than just video production, however—as Butterworth’s classes are only some out of the many Liberty offers. Introductory CTE courses, such as Web Design, help introduce CTE fields by providing a valuable connection to the real world.
“It’s one of the only classes I’ve taken that felt like it was significant to the modern world and could make a difference in the future,” sophomore Preston Morgan said of the course. Morgan, who took Intro to Computer Science last year as well and is currently in AP Computer Science A, finds that taking these CTE courses have helped him to ensure that Computer Science is one of his primary choices in career path.
CTE courses have helped many to discover their passions and ensure their career paths, all the while enabling people to earn college credit. In the end, they help prepare students for the future in many ways, and are an essential part of Liberty—even sending students into fields they would not have discovered without these classes.