Stephen T. Mather Building Arts & Craftsmanship High

Stephen T. Mather Building Arts & Craftsmanship High School (www.MatherHSNYC.org), through hands-on learning opportunities and skills-training, prepares students for both college and career paths in the building and landscape management trades, with emphases on high-quality craftsmanship, historic preservation practice, and the specialized building arts. Striving to redefine Career and Technical Education (CTE) for the 21st Century, Mather HS has a unique partnership with the National Park Service (NPS), enabling staff to engage in and offer real, hands-on education in the preservation trades—specifically carpentry, masonry, plastering, decorative finishes and landscape¬ management—while also providing our students with a solid college- and career-ready foundation aligned with state and national standards. In our model, students are not being asked to choose one path over the other, but are instead learning and preparing for both through problem-based learning and core classes that are directly connected to the CTE courses and the practices of historic preservation. Our approach is designed to open more doors and make students more competitive in the labor force.