Empowering Future Educators with VariQuest

Empowering Future Educators

Wright Technical Center in Buffalo, Minnesota, is a public cooperative high school supporting juniors and seniors from eight area districts. It offers a wide range of hands-on career and technical education programs, along with alternative learning options, to prepare students for post-secondary success and career readiness. Mary Pierce, an instructor in the school’s Early College Early Career (ECEC) program, helps prepare high school students for careers in education. Through hands-on learning, her Early Childhood & Elementary Careers students develop practical teaching skills, greatly enhanced by the school’s VariQuest tools including the Perfecta® Poster Design System, Cutout Maker Digital Die-Cut Machine, and Cold Laminator.

“The students leave my Career Tech Ed class with the ability to use tools they may encounter when they work in a school setting,” says Ms. Pierce. Her students regularly use the VariQuest tools to create classroom-ready materials such as bulletin boards, children’s storybooks, visual schedules, and behavior guidance prompts. These projects not only support their career readiness but also introduce them to essential classroom strategies used in both general and special education settings.

Supporting Diverse Learners and Saving Time

Ms. Pierce highlights the tools’ adaptability, especially in supporting diverse learning needs: “VariQuest tools would be very useful in Special Education settings because of what they let teachers and aides make with very little time.” Visual schedules, picture prompts, and first/then graphics are just a few of the various resources that can be quickly produced to meet individual student needs. The Cutout Maker is a favorite for creating materials that support fine motor skills and early literacy. Matching games, letter and number sets, tracing activities, lacing cards, and sensory paths can all be found in our Engage Every Learner® Content that is connected to all the VariQuest tools through the VariQuest Design Center.

Reflecting on her years in education, Ms. Pierce shares, “30 years ago we traced stencils to make letters and words. Then the wonderful Die-Cuts were introduced (we thought they were the BEST things). Now the VariQuest Cutout Maker allows you to choose from different fonts and sizes and it is a HUGE time-saver.” This shift has allowed her to focus more on teaching and mentoring while still providing high-quality classroom visuals.

Looking Ahead

Funded through Perkins grant money, the VariQuest tools at Wright Technical Center are a smart investment in career and technical education (CTE). With these resources, students at Wright Technical Center graduate not only with knowledge but with confidence, experience, and practical skills, ready to continue their education and ultimately step into classrooms of their own one day, able to make an immediate impact.