NATCHEZ &045; In the 31 years Jack Lann has worked in vocational-technical education for the Natchez-Adams School District, he’s seen many changes.

Typewriters are long a thing of the past in business technology classes, replaced by computers &045; and soon, he noted, by voice-activated ones.

Computers also allow auto mechanics to detect problems in a vehicle’s motor with greater accuracy and ease.

&uot;But every classroom has at least five computers in it,&uot; Lann said.

&uot;My staff has been wonderful. They’ve been very favorable to changing the way they teach to accommodate the latest technology.&uot;

An allied health program &045; &uot;sort of a pre-med-type program for high schoolers who want to major in medically-related fields, Lann explained &045; has started and is so popular that a second teacher will soon be added.

That’s not to mention the fact that until the early 1990s, the Fallin Career and Technology Center, of which Lann is principal, was located in what is now Central Alternative School instead of its more modern facility at Natchez High.

But ask Lann, who is retiring June 30, what the program’s greatest strides have been since he started as an industrial arts teacher &045; and since he became director of the district’s vo-tech program in 1991 &045; and it’s easy to see where his joy lies.

He talked excitedly, for example, about one young man who has graduated from the center’s auto mechanics program &045; a battery of tough classes &uot;he just aced,&uot; Lann said.

The student has received $7,000 in scholarships from the Universal Technical Institute, which often recruits students from Fallin.

&uot;He scored the highest in the test he had to take to get in (at UTI) and scored fifth in the nation,&uot; Lann said. &uot;Now, he wants to (specialize) in Porsche. And he’ll make good money doing that.&uot;

Then there’s the student who is majoring in child care not because he &045; yes, he &045; wants to open a child care center, but because he’s confident that the two-year program will give him the background he needs to major in child psychology someday.

And that’s not to mention that at one auto shop in town, every single mechanic is a successful graduate of Fallin’s auto shop program.

In all, Fallin has seven programs under its roof: auto mechanics, business computer technology, occupational child care, allied health, building trades, drafting and cooperative education.

In cooperative education, students spend part of their day working at a local business.

Lann started in 1971 as an industrial arts teacher at what was then McLaurin Junior High, moving his way to drafting and industrial arts teacher and into administration.

On the way, he picked up a title he still holds in addition to &uot;principal&uot; &045; director of vocational and technical programs for the entire district.

One more thing has changed during that time, Lann hastened to add.

&uot;Most people think of vo-tech as something for people who aren’t going to college,&uot; Lann said.

&uot;But that’s not true. More and more of ours are going to college. And when they get there, Š sometimes they’re bored because they’ve been taught the same thing here.&uot;

Now, Lann will move on to the Alexandria, La.-area, where his wife, Judy, has transferred with International Paper.

However, he admitted he will miss the chance to integrate even more cutting-edge technology into the center’s courses &045; including the voice-activated computers.

But even more, perhaps, he will miss the students he moved at from his corner office window and handed out peppermints to from his office.

&uot;The students,&uot; he said, &uot;are what it’s all about.&uot;