In honor of CTE Month, CTSO student stories and survey results

Dear Colleagues:

What better way to celebrate CTE Month than to cheer the accomplishments of young people participating in our nation's wonderful CTSOs? I've been overwhelmed by your responses to my request for your CTSO student success stories. In this message, I'd like to share a few of those stories with all of you.

(Don't see your CTSO here? Send me a story! You can email me directly, or share your students' accomplishments with our large readership on our Facebook page or Twitter feed.)

First, a mea culpa: In my last note, I dashed off an alphabet soup of CTSO acronyms but neglected to include our friends at Business Professionals of America (BPA). Thank you to Kirk Lawson, Executive Director of BPA, and those BPA advisors who brought that omission to my attention. To make up for it, I'm going to lead off with a BPA story.

BPA: Barbara W. Trent, BPA's Ohio Association State Advisor, told us about Sarah Crist, whose high values, strong work ethic, and commitment to excellence carried her through multiple leadership roles as a high school student in BPA, including Treasurer and President of the Ohio Association and Historian on the National Officer Team. Now a junior majoring in Communication and Organizational Leadership at the University of Cincinnati, Sarah continues to pursue new ideas and innovative approaches to leadership and problem solving. On the Dean's list since her first quarter, Sarah is president-elect of Delta Delta Delta, a resident advisor in her dorm, and a tutor for first-year students. As a Sony/Columbia Studios Intern in 2012, she was responsible for researching and brainstorming promotional ideas for a variety of media outlets, facilitating and executing advance screenings for movies, and distributing promotional items across a three-state area. Although Sarah's official commitment to BPA ended with high school graduation, she continues to give back: As an intern with the Ohio BPA State Advisor, she is working with state officer trainings and helping to plan the 2013 State Leadership Conference.

FBLA - Phi Beta Lambda: Tina Strickland, Executive Director of Georgia Phi Beta Lambda, let us know about the remarkable success story of Christopher Wright. At 22, Mr. Wright ran for public office in Dawson, GA, and became the youngest mayor-elect in the state. While a student at Albany Technical College in Albany, Mr. Wright was a member of the local Phi Beta Lambda chapter. In April 2012, he was a public speaking competitor at the Georgia PBL State Leadership Conference in Atlanta and won first place in the state. In June 2012, he represented Georgia PBL in the public speaking event at the PBL National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, TX, and placed second in the nation. Read his deeply inspiring story through the link to the Albany Herald above.

SkillsUSA: Our friend Holly Carr shared this phenomenal video about SkillsUSA produced by Nebraska Loves Our Public Schools (NLPS). Holly is the career academy coordinator of Nebraska's Educational Service Unit 4, a career academy featuring programs in education, health sciences, and energy. Here's a bonus video about the energy academy and its teachers, students, and valued industry partners!

Holly has a great suggestion about marketing our CTSOs and CTE programs: "Although many states don't have the NLPS resource, most have a public television station, either through their public university or state public broadcasting service. Invite them to put together a video/news story highlighting your CTSO! Most will be glad for the opportunity!"

DECA: Dr. Stephen W. Hoag, state coordinator of Connecticut's Statewide CTE Assessment and director of Developing Tomorrow's Professionals, a training, assessment, and support program for young men of color, was moved to share his own history of DECA participation. Here's an excerpt from his story:

Last spring, without much notification, nine members of my 1967-1968 DECA Chapter (Lyman Hall High School, Wallingford, CT: the 1968 National DECA Chapter of the Year) came back from all over the country to see each other. The persons in attendance included an investment banker, two business owners, a retired supermarket district manager, a retired real estate banker, a department store regional manager, a retired Air Force pilot, a master chef/restaurant owner, and me.

We spent 4 hours together, recalling our DECA and life achievements, disappointments and future plans. The best part was this emotional discussion of how our DECA experiences led to or impacted our careers and life itself.  It occurred to me more than a few times since that reunion how, with all the emphasis and discourse on the topic of meaningful data in education these days, that this type of "real result" is the most meaningful measurement of all.

Finally, here are the results of my survey about CTSO participation. Forty-six percent of you agreed that the greatest benefits of CTSOs is the way they help students develop leadership skills, maturity, and self-confidence. Thirty-one percent of you believed it was the way CTSOs offer instruction that blends academic and technical skills with hands-on, experiential learning.

Please keep your stories coming!