health and wellness facility designed to prepare students for careers that don’t yet exist. The timing aligns with Michigan’s explosive growth in Career and Technical Education (CTE), where completers have more than doubled from 27,014 in 2014-15 to 55,431 in 2024-25. “[In Harper Woods] Our motto is excellence above all,” McGhee says. “I always say that we cannot open tomorrow’s doors with yesterday’s keys. We’re planting seeds of flexible and malleable learning, preparing students for careers that have not been thought of so they can compete in a global society.” The district’s approach focuses on skill mastery rather than traditional curriculum, which McGhee describes as “dinosauric and passé.” Harper Woods emphasizes academic preparation and real-world application, ensuring students can transition seamlessly into either higher education or the workforce. McGhee frames the district’s mission in absolute terms: “I would rather train children than repair broken adults any day.” With more than 500,000 skilled trades jobs expected to become available in Michigan through 2026, Harper Woods is positioning its graduates to fill critical gaps in construction, manufacturing, healthcare, and information technology—sectors that dominate the local economy in surrounding Wayne County communities. BUILDING RESILIENCE IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD The COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions worldwide to rethink their approach to learning, but for Harper Woods, the crisis reinforced principles already in place. McGhee spent months traveling between the district and Lansing during the pandemic, building relationships with state senators that would later yield the $3 million in grants funding the Excellence Institute. The district emerged from lockdown not with a pivot strategy, but with an acceleration plan. “We don’t look at resiliency as something we instill,” McGhee explains.“It’s embedded in what we do.When you’re preparing students for careers that haven’t been defined yet, you’re inherently teaching them to adapt.” The district maintained its focus on flexible learning even as schools nationwide struggled to 267 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 11 HARPER WOODS SCHOOL DISTRICT
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