The CTE Advisory Board met Thursday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m. at BCHS in the Mertz Career and Technical Education Building. Jackie Stephenson began the meeting with a welcome to the members in attendance; Brenda Hite, Cara Major, Jane McMullen, Adaline Hodge, Paul Lancaster, Katie Keyser and Eddie Ryder. Absent members were Roy Burns, Andy Seabolt and student representative, Kory Shifflett. It was established that the next meeting would be led by Brenda Hite, president and Cara Major, vice president.
The agenda began with information provided by Adaline Hodge and Jane McMullen concerning state competitions which were held April 15-17 in Virginia Beach and Reston, Virginia. Cara Major also attended the competitions in the capacity of a judge.
Adaline Hodge’s students attended the FCCLA Competitions in Virginia Beach. Many of the attending students competed and placed in the competitions. Morgan Ryder earned a Bronze medal in Job Interview Occupation. The culinary team of Zach Woodzell, Emily Bartley and Kayla Sibold earned a Bronze medal in a competition which involved a live, sixty minute cooking segment. Monja Robertson and Chase Smith participated in a new competition, Food Innovations, earning a gold medal and trophy for the state of Virginia.
Jane McMullen’s FBLA students began testing for regional level competitions in February. Twenty-nine students competed in online testing and oral testing for regional competitions. Of those, twenty-five finished as regional winners. Eleven of the regional winners qualified to compete at the state level. Twenty-five students travelled to the state level competitions in Reston with ten students competing at the state level. Although, we had no state level placements, the students were exposed to many key note speakers and valuable leadership sessions during their trip. Much emphasis was placed on the importance of business attire and professionalism and our students represented BCHS well.
The meeting moved to the introduction and presentation of the newly created CTE website. This new website will provide the CTE Advisory Board, as well as the public, the opportunity to review our meeting minutes, announcements, calendar and a discussion board. An additional highlight is the CTE Director’s Corner, in which Jackie Stephenson, Assistant Principal and CTE director, will provide a blog of insights into items of interest. Determination will be made as to who will be provided access to leave comments on blog topics. Additional items which are available on the website include references to online testing in the classrooms, fundraising events within CTE, and student projects such as candy making by students in Lumina Shifflett’s classes, blueprint design by students in Laura Cooper’s classes and sign making by students in Willie Jenkins’ classes.
Cara Major spoke briefly concerning the next planned meeting for BCHS students, to be held in May by The Homestead. The focus will be on job interviews, tips for employment and employment opportunities within The Homestead. Handouts will be given to students ages sixteen and older who are interested in summer employment with The Homestead. In their previous meetings, students were given an overview of the departments within The Homestead and feedback was collected from the students regarding their goals for continued education or employment. This information will be used to plan future meetings with BCHS students.
The meeting adjourned at 7:52 p.m. with the next meeting scheduled for June 17 at 10:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted by Katie Keyser, secretary.