exampleconference2024

Having trouble communicating with your marketing staff? Do you wish your program had a more impactful personality? This session will showcase examples of low/no cost action steps for establishing and maintaining communication and marketing strategies. Topics will include strategies for engaging with communication and marketing leaders, tips for increasing social media effectiveness, and discussion of the “how and why” of communication plans.

Session Objectives: Participants will learn about, and discuss, ways to:
1.Engage and interact with communications and marketing staff.
2.Build their organization’s online personality.
3.Advocate for CTE through marketing and communications.

ROOM HOST: Brian Cashman

Workplaces want motivated humans who take initiative. People want to care about work and contribute to a bigger purpose. Rolling out engagement programs or adding new professional development tracks won’t help. The answer is developing work cultures and personal mindsets that embrace change, accountability, and risk.
 
In this talk, I inspire people and teams to change their perspectives on work. With humor, humility, and a lot of energy, I reframe hierarchy and power, and focus our attention on the mindsets needed for future-forward workplaces.

Session Objectives:
1) Understand the role of personal leadership and power in hierarchy.
2) Walk away with actionable plans to shape the work and classroom culture.
3) Implement strategies that humanize your work.

ROOM HOST: Phil Arellano

Through targeted investments in districts like Saint Paul Public Schools, Career Academies at the Greater Twin Cities United Way holds the vision to unite public education and employment systems so that all students in Minnesota have pathways to wealth-building and purpose-driven careers. In this session GTCUW will share more about their work across 17 districts to build cross-sector career pathways centered on students of color. Saint Paul Public Schools will share their journey to develop district-wide career pathways in partnership with local industry and post-secondary institutions while maintaining a focus on equity, student voice and wealth building. Session will include opportunities for Q & A, input and active participation.

Session Objectives: 
1. Participants will gain knowledge to strengthen their cross-sector partnerships with secondary, post-secondary and industry stakeholders.
2. Participants will identify new practices and approaches to their curriculum that integrates community and student voice and centers equity in the design
3. Participants will be inspired to create sustainable change in their community

ROOM HOSTS: Maria Vittone

Learn about torque and its relationship to nuts and bolts that virtually hold everything together. This seminar will focus on the importance of torque to fasteners both wet and dry, leverage, clamp load, and some basic fastener terminology. The session will present in an easy-to-understand format and give everyone some knowledge to take home. Get a glimpse of how CTE instructors work in the classroom teaching students.

Session Objectives: 
1. Observe and learn techniques and methods that a CTE teacher applies to support student learning in CTE classrooms.
2. Observe and apply inquiry-based learning teaching strategies in CTE courses and programs.
3. Make abstract concepts more concrete for students.

ROOM HOSTS: Julia Diaz

South Central College (SCC) and area education, chamber and healthcare leaders formed a partnership, High School to College and Career (H2C), to create a dual enrollment pathway for youth, particularly those in underserved populations, to acquire the academic, technical, and workplace skills that employers need. Utilizing a variety of dual enrollment delivery methods provides the opportunity for students to earn more credits prior to high school graduation. H2C prepares learners for college and career opportunities in six healthcare areas including earning certifications along the way that enable them to make a good wage as they gain valuable working experience in the healthcare field. A similar model has been developed for Manufacturing, Engineering, and Construction careers and will be launching during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Session Objectives:
1. Implement a high school to college pathway, public-private partnerships and other collaborations to establish relevant pathway programming.
2. Obtain the resources and strategies needed to begin brainstorming how this model could be adapted for their communities, including developing an outline of a draft business plan.
3. Engage in discussion about relevant challenges, as well as best practices for recruiting and retaining underrepresented students or integrating work-based learning experiences.

ROOM HOSTS: Michelle Kamenov

Local transportation agencies (public works, highway departments, MnDOT, tribal, and townships) are ideal partners for developing a broad range of technical skills and growing the local workforce.

Session Objectives: 
1) Implement best practices on effective ways to partner with your local transportation agency (i.e. internships, job shadowing, youth and community events, mentoring, on-the-job training, etc.).
2) Understand and communicate the many technical career tracks within local transportation agencies.
3) Champion public transportation careers that directly impact community members.

ROOM HOST: Amy Landers

Many programs utilize case studies to enhance classroom learning.  Try turning a case study into a fun and interactive way for students to learn by making it a virtual escape room.  This not only helps students learn the information, but also improves critical thinking skills in an exciting way.  Students can interact with elements of the escape room such as audio, video and images and responses can be created as multiple choice, select all that apply and short answer.

Session Objectives:
1. Understand the benefits to using a virtual escape room to enhance learning and engage students
2. Start creating their own escape room experience
3.Utilize free services to build a new exciting way for students to learn

ROOM HOSTS: Erin Olson

This session explores perceptions of "college" and how students define college as a barrier to postsecondary choice. The influences on Native American and rural students will be explored through student voices and those that advise them. This presentation is Phase III of an ongoing study of Underrepresented Students Finding CTE.

Session Objectives:
1. Participants will gain an understanding of the barriers to post-secondary choice and the significant influences of indigenous and rural student populations.
2. Participants will evaluate their own organization's practices regarding indigenous and rural populations.
3. Participants will explore current academic and career planning practices and how this research informs the contemporary approach to advising secondary and post-secondary students.

ROOM HOSTS: Mary Jo Gardner

An overview of the non-profit organizations Construct Tomorrow and Building Strong Communities, as well as the Operating Engineer's High School Pathway program. Construct Tomorrow puts on CTE-focused events for high school students throughout the state of Minnesota. Construct Tomorrow works to showcase what a career in the construction trades has to offer by giving students a hands-on, experiential learning opportunity alongside apprentices, journey-workers, and other trades professionals. Building Strong Communities is an industry-driven organization focused on multi-trade apprenticeship preparatory programming throughout the state of Minnesota. The OE Pathway Program offers students, grades 9-12, the opportunity to take classes pertaining to heavy equipment operations and engage with industry experts, along with hands-on training.

Session Objectives:
1) Identify what the Construct Tomorrow and Building Strong Communities organizations are and how they help high school students explore career opportunities in the construction trades.
2) Learn about the OE pathway program and how to get students connected to this innovative industry-education partnership.
3) Develop a better understanding of what the construction trades are, as well as opportunities in registered apprenticeship available to students.
4) Identify the health & welfare, retirement, and wage benefits available to apprentices and journey-workers in the construction trades.

ROOM HOSTS: Eva Scates-Winston

Our strategies for attracting high school students to CTE was built on developing personalized relationships and real human connection. We knew from the research that students need a support network of professional adults to listen and guide their career decisions. We're sharing two models we piloted in high school programs at Southeast Minnesota and Southwest Metro. Come and learn about what we did and how you can replicate these strategies in your school.

Session Objectives: 
1) Participants will learn to pilot their own high school recruitment program to attract high school students into CTE programs.
2) Participants will learn to engage and partner with local business and industry partners.
3) Participants will learn to develop a learner/student centered strategy for recruiting students into CTE programs.

ROOM HOSTS: Yingfah Thao