ABOVE PHOTO: Kristel Tavare, Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) director of PreK-12 Initiatives, center, accepts the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce Public Employee of the Year award presented by David Minor, Chamber president and CEO, and Tina Probst, Chamber director of Workforce and Emerging Talent.
Kristel Tavare has a passion for helping students achieve their dreams.
It’s humbling when others notice.
“We are meeting students where they are and helping them, in turn, meet the needs of our community,”
The Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) Director of PreK-12 Initiatives was honored with the Public Employee of the Year recently by Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce.
“I’m humbled and honored to receive such an award because there are so many deserving people,” she said. “I’ve always been passionate about serving students and providing opportunities for all students to experience success.”
Tavare works with middle and high school partners throughout the College’s 11-county district to determine students’ interests and community needs so high school students can receive higher education before graduating.
Tavare has championed the process for students to earn college credits, and in some cases, associate degrees, before they leave high school.
CVTC offers three ways for high school students to earn college credits – through transcripted credits where their own high school teachers teach the class; Start College Now courses, where high school students attend classes at CVTC; and High School Academies, where CVTC faculty teach students at their high school, at a host site or on a CVTC campus.
“It’s exciting to be a part of transforming education,” Tavare said. “We are meeting students where they are and helping them, in turn, meet the needs of our community,”
“Through our work, students are able to complete either a full degree or a portion of degrees before graduating high school, and, at the very least, find their passion and their pathway and jump-start that road for them.”
Tavare talked about the work she, as a part of CVTC, has done in partnership with high schools and leaders in the community that has transformed education “from being the way it always was to looking at what each individual student needs to further their goal.”
Since 2019, CVTC has helped to enroll between 36 and 43 percent of College district high school students in dual credit courses. That means between nearly 4,700 and 5,700 high school students have been taking high school and college credits at the same time each school year.
Those same students earned, on average, a total of 23,153 CVTC credits each year. In 2024, CVTC awarded 28,799 credits to high school students, representing tuition cost savings of $4.2 million for students.
Tavare said she would never be able to make this happen alone.
“This is a true partnership. It takes the support of everyone at the College, our high school administrators and counselors, and our employers who hire our students, to be successful,” Tavare said. “It’s a win-win for everyone.”
