North Clackamas School District is one of the greatest school districts around. It offers many opportunities to its students, many of these through the Sabin-Schellenberg Technical Center. However, many people do not grasp what the Center does in its entirety, despite how high it is held in respect among schools everywhere.

Originally named just the Sabin Center, after Owen Sabin, a second campus was erected and entitled the Schellenberg campus, after Ben Schellenberg. Now, the center is known as the Sabin-Schellenberg Professional Technical Center. Both of these men were North Clackamas School District Superintendents.

The Sabin-Schellenberg Center has two campuses, both located within walking distance of each other just off of Highway 224 on Johnson Road. Each day school buses go to and from the centers, shuttling students there, and then back to their schools. The Center offers many specialty elective classes that will help each student learn what job they want, and the classes are offered to Clackamas, Rex Putnam, and Milwaukie High Schools. Sabin-Schellenberg is meant to be a hands on experience where students can learn what it would be like to work in a particular industry.

Currently the school has divided all of it’s classes into six “career paths”, each one containing classes that will give students a hands on experience of what exactly they would be doing for that job. With classes such as Fire Science and Health Services, unusual courses can be taken which help students know where they are going after high school. Thanks to the independence of the Sabin-Schellenberg Center it is able to provide unique classes for the students in its district.

Suzie Peachin, Assistant Principal of Sabin-Schellenberg believes that there is truly something special about hands on learning, and she strongly believes that the Center  offers amazing opportunities for students to lose themselves in. “At least take one class”, says Peachin “and even if you didn’t like it then try another one”. The Center is able to offer a wide variety of specialty classes so that students can choose from many different careers to try. Peachin and the other staff work hard to determine which new classes will be offered. Each year they get a report from the Oregon Employment Department (OED), which tells them which high-paying jobs will be in high demand in the future. Combining that with student interest, they are then able to decide which courses will be the most beneficial to the students that attend them. Using this technique the classes that are provided are a fast track to high paying jobs that will be in high demand.

Sabin-Schellenberg is able to offer college credits for all of its courses, and there are many experiences to be had in taking classes there. Some students work at the land lab, where they learn to take care of animals and farm. Others choose to take Health Services, where they’re able to go to hospitals and see what being a doctor would be like. Each class is able to offer diverse opportunities, and the goal is to have a hands on opportunity for each student.

Daniel Thompson, the Dean of Students at the Sabin-Schellenberg Center describes it as “All the fun elective classes in one place”.  Sabin Schellenberg is unique, as it is currently the biggest of its kind in Oregon. The majority of schools do not have anything resembling the Sabin-Schellenberg Center, so the population of North Clackamas School District should be grateful for the opportunity that they have been given.