| Volume 35 | Number
4
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Spring
2005
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| Director's Notes |
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News
Briefs
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| NEWS BRIEFS |
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Business Professionals of America Shines at Nationals
They are: |
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CareerTech’s 100th Anniversary Campaign Wins ADDY!
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OESC/ODCTE Job Link The Oklahoma Department of CareerTech and the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) are pleased to announce a new service available to CareerTech students. Students who have
completed CareerTech training and are looking for jobs can now
identify themselves as CareerTech graduates as
they access services from the Oklahoma Job Link Website. When
the students identify a training program they have completed, a
CareerTech
logo will appear on their resume alerting employers about their
training. |
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Association of Career and Technology Education, (ACTE) Region IV Winners The Oklahoma Association of Career and Technology Education proudly announces the following winners from the ACTE Region IV awards program; The Region IV Outstanding New Career and Technical Teacher is Christy Whitfield from Gordon Cooper Technology Center, Shawnee. Representing the Business and Information Technology Education division, Christy will move to the national level of competition of this award. The award presentation will be made for this year’s winner in December at ACTE in New Orleans. Region IV Outstanding New Career and Technical Teacher |
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National KUDOS to CareerTech’s 100th Anniversary Committee The 100th Anniversary Committee is being recognized by the National School Public Relations Association for their work on the CareerTech 100th Anniversary Campaign. This effort recently received the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) Golden Achievement Award, given for exemplary public relations activities, programs and projects. Since 1935, NSPRA has been providing school communication training and services to school leaders throughout the United States, Canada, and the U.S. Dependent Schools worldwide. NSPRA's mission is to advance education through responsible communication. Congratulations to Kathleen Kennedy, public information coordinator at Eastern Oklahoma County Technology Center who served as chair of the committee, and to the members of the team. The team included Ken Koch, marketing director at Meridian Technology Center; Janet Taber, communications and marketing director at Pioneer Technology Center; Cheryl Harder, assistant director of the Oklahoma Association of Career and Technology Education; and Dwight Stoddard, Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education (ODCTE) audit manager. Also, Debbie Scroggins, Tech Prep coordinator/marketing director at Mid-America Technology Center; Susan Biddy, public information officer at Caddo-Kiowa Technology Center; Melinda Barton, public information officer at Northwest and High Plains Technology Centers; Greg Winters, superintendent at Kiamichi Technology Centers; Tom Friedemann, assistant superintendent, and Jeff Knapp, media relations coordinator at Francis Tuttle. Harold Helton, CareerTech
coordinator for Tulsa Public Schools; Charlotte Edwards, retired
OKACTE executive
director; Ron
Wilkerson, retired ODCTE communications and marketing
director; Paula
Bowles, ODCTE communications and marketing director;
Rusty Muns, ODCTE
electronic media development coordinator; Shari Goad,
ODCTE conference coordinator; and Sarah Mussett, ODCTE
organization
and system
development manager, were also team members. |
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State Staff Serving CareerTech Nationally Instructional Systems staff members serving on Association of Career and Technical Education (ACTE) national committees or in national divisional leadership roles are;
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What is a Career Cluster? Speaker's Kit Designed to Answer That Question Career Clusters serve as a tool for connecting academic, technical and employability skills, in conjunction with students’ career planning. Career Clusters serve as a framework, or a model to help students transition from one educational level to another. For example, clusters help to connect career exploration in middle school with in-depth exposure to a cluster in 9th and 10th grade, moving to more specific skills in secondary and post secondary education/training. You may recognize the course “Technology Education” that is offered in 7th and 8th grade, that focuses on exploring many different careers, followed by “Tech Connect” which focuses on a particular cluster of interest and rotates through at least three pathways within that cluster. At that point, a student may choose to pursue a more specific plan of study or pathway. For more information about Career Clusters for yourself or a presentation, the Career Clusters Speakers Kit is now available at: http://www.okcareertech.org/iis/clustericons/ccdindex/ |
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Oklahoma’s
CareerTech Aviation Programs:
In the April article of OA, Downs described Texas' impressive aviation program at the Career Development Center in the Dallas Independent School District. “After reading how Oklahoma must envy the Texas program, it occurred to me that most aviation programs probably look the same from a 30,000 foot view,” Baird said. “We wanted the readers of the ‘Oklahoma Aviator’ to see the difference at ground level.
On May 6, Baird and Downs traveled to aviation programs located at Metro Tech, OKC, Tulsa Tech, and Gordon Cooper Technology Center, Shawnee. At the end of the day, Downs agreed with Baird that when viewed at ground level, Oklahoma’s aviation programs are, clearly, top notch. |
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NADA Responds
to Misleading Editorial in New York Times Your editorial ("High School Reform, Round 1") calling for federal cuts in vocational training does a disservice to the millions of young people who choose these programs and shows a basic misunderstanding of their value. Speaking on behalf of the automobile retail industry, I can tell you that vocational training programs in the auto repair field provide a vital pipeline to a new generation of skilled auto technicians. That’s no small matter, as the Department of Labor projects that an additional 32,000 auto technicians are needed annually in the next decade alone. Many vocational schools and auto dealers are teaming up to give kids real-world, on-site training in auto service, through a dynamic education-industry partnership called Automotive Youth Educational Systems, or AYES. These students are on the path to a highly satisfying high-tech career, with six-figure potential, made possible through vocational programs. The driving public benefits, as well. When you consider that today’s cars have more than 10,000 moving parts and computing power greater than the Apollo moon launch, the nature of the car repair business has changed dramatically and highly focused training programs like these are indispensable to vehicle safety. For many kids, the path to college is the right choice;
but it’s
not for everyone. More than 30 percent of students at four-year
colleges don’t qualify for a degree even after six years
of trying. Vocational training programs, like those in the auto
repair field,
open doors that sometimes high school and college can’t.
It makes no sense to slam them shut. |
Congratulations
to all those who attended the Business Professionals of America
(BPA) National Conference in Anaheim! Our great state of Oklahoma
was well represented
by 343 students, advisors, and guests. For increasing membership,
Oklahoma received the Growth Award in both secondary and post-secondary
divisions. 
Visual
Image Advertising and the Oklahoma CareerTech Communications and
Marketing Council received Gold and Silver ADDY
Awards at
the local level for CareerTech’s 100th Anniversary campaign.
The Consumer Magazine’s Class of ’04 advertisement
won a Gold ADDY; the State of Education ad received the Silver
award. They now will advance to the regional level.
The
ADDY Awards are the advertising industry's largest and most representative
competition, recognizing creative excellence and the
very best advertising worldwide. Sponsored by the American Advertising
Federation (AAF), the ADDY Awards represent the true creative spirit
of advertising by recognizing all forms of advertising, from all
types of media, created by all sizes and types of entrants, from
anywhere in the world.
Trade and Industrial Aviation
Program Specialist H.L. Baird invited Earl Downs, writer for the “Oklahoma
Aviator” publication,
to view on a closer level Oklahoma’s CareerTech aviation
programs after reading his recent article "Aviation Goes to
High School." 
“I invited Mr. Downs to look at some of the CareerTech aviation
programs that serve not only high school students, but adults.
. . and he took me up on
it!!” Baird said. “We spent an entire day visiting three campuses.”