By Bobby Ellis
bobby.ellis@education.ky.gov
During the Kentucky Association for Career and Technical Education’s annual conference in Louisville, Interim Commissioner Wayne Lewis announced a new campaign to increase the public’s awareness about career and technical education (CTE).
As part of the campaign, called What Will You Be, Kentucky? the Department of Education is collecting stories from Kentuckians about how they chose their career and what route they took to get hired. The goal is to introduce and familiarize Kentucky students with different career opportunities made available through CTE.
“We want to begin conversations with students in middle school and beyond to get them thinking about what they want to do next,” said Lewis. “We want to show kids what’s out there and engage them further,”
Career and technical education isn’t just finding itself in the spotlight in Kentucky. In May, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it was creating a $3 million grant program aimed at helping schools create internship programs in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made a visit to the national SkillsUSA Championships in Louisville recently to meet students and to hear their opinions on CTE. The competition brought together students in career pathways from automotive repair to cooking and face painting.
“It’s amazing just how many different things are on display here,” said Caleb Burke, of Boston, Mass., who had come to support a family member during the competition.
Interim Commissioner Wayne Lewis announces the “What Will You Be, Kentucky?” campaign at the Kentucky Association for Career and Technical Education conference in Louisville. The campaign is focused on helping showcase career pathways and introducing students to technical careers.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, July 23, 2018
School counselors map out different problems faced by students and how to help them overcome those problems during the KACTE conference in Louisville.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, July 23, 2018
A high school SkillsUSA competitor works on an automotive part during the automotive service technology competition.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 23, 2018
Kentucky’s Corey Resinger competes in the high school automotive service technology competition at the SkillsUSA Championships in Louisville.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 28, 2018
Suzie Norz exits a trailer used to paint automotive parts during the SkillsUSA Championships.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 23, 2018
Anthony Grant of Kentucky competes in the automotive collision repair competition at SkillsUSA.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 23, 2018
Noni Anderson mixes ingredients as she competes in the high school culinary arts competition at SkillsUSA.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 23, 2018
High school culinary students compete in the culinary arts final competition at SkillsUSA.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 23, 2018
High school nursing students perform CPR on dummies as part of the SkillsUSA Championships.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, June 23, 2018
[…] even have fun while they learn. And here in Kentucky, work-based learning and co-op experiences are giving students hands-on job training before they even graduate high […]