High Peaks Alliance’s Director of Engagement attended the inaugural MaineCTE Business Summit at Sugarloaf Mountain, joining educators and workforce partners statewide to strengthen connections between CTE and student career pathways. Sessions addressed recruitment, apprenticeships, and program capacity challenges across Maine.

For High Peaks Alliance, the summit reflected work already underway through our Rec Rangers program and our growing partnerships with Foster CTE Center. We are seeing firsthand how hands-on, land-based learning can help students move from training into paid conservation work. In 2026, two graduates of Foster CTE Center’s Forestry and Wood Harvesting program joined the Rec Rangers crew, showing that this model is already creating real opportunities for young people in our region.

That same spirit of connection is central to our work at Mosher Hill Falls and Walrath Woods, where Foster Tech students can apply classroom learning in working forests and conserved landscapes. Through forestry management, trail work, and community-based outdoor learning, this partnership helps build the skills, confidence, and experience Maine’s next generation needs to support the state’s rural and natural resource economies.

We’re grateful to MaineCTE for creating a space where educators and employers can come together to build these pathways. Events like this help strengthen the bridge between education and employment, and they support the kind of practical workforce development Maine’s communities need now and in the future.

📸 Rec Ranger and Foster CTE-trained Sawyer, Lauren Mitchell, on the trail.