Typically silent on weekends, the halls at Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School were bustling with activity Sunday as students, teachers and guests filled the building for a special open house.

The smell of yeast rolls wafted through the halls when culinary arts students demonstrated cooking. Future nurses checked blood pressures, while prospective architects designed offices by computer.

The vo-tech's open house kicked off American Vocation Association Week, this year titled "Sparking the Magic in Education."

Nancy Witvoet, a vocational evaluator since 1989, said her school keeps the spark alive by offering courses that help students get jobs when they graduate from high school or college.

"By the year 2000, most jobs will require more than a high school diploma, but not necessarily a four-year degree," she said. "We want to make the community aware of what's available here, and let parents know their children's career pathway options."

In the past, high school students took one of two approaches to education -- enrollment in vo-tech school or in college preparatory courses.

Now vo-tech school can be preparation for college. Mineral Area College in Farmington, for example, accepts credit for some Cape Vo-Tech classes.

Witvoet said vo-tech education isn't considered a lesser path as it once was, and students in her school have to be as sharp as any others.

Cape Central senior Brendan O'Grady, 17, wants to be an architect. He plans to enroll at the University of Kansas or the University of Colorado-Boulder upon graduation. For now, his classmates call him the prize pupil in John Story's three-hour drafting course.

Another Cape Central senior, 18-year-old Derrick Nunley, isn't sure where he wants to take post-secondary training in culinary arts. But he's certain he wants to become a chef. A classmate, Loretta Lundy, helped him make rolls Sunday.

Lundy wouldn't tell her age, commenting that she "passed the 50 mark a long time ago." When Brown Shoe in Piedmont closed, she enrolled in Cape Vo-Tech to learn a new skill.

"I was scared when I first came here, learning with all these teen-agers," Lundy said.

But it didn't take long for her to settle in. The school educates several adults like her who have been laid off from jobs.

Her culinary arts class operates a mini-restaurant from 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m. on weekdays so students can learn planning, cooking and restaurant management.

At a glance

The Cape Girardeau Area Vo-Tech School is open to students ages 14 and older and offers classes during morning, afternoon and evening hours.