December 12, 2008

Someone mentioned yesterday that Christmas was two weeks away—holy cow! I had planned to do some wrapping this weekend, but I just realized I don’t have anything to wrap yet! I hope you’re all more organized than I am—I know you’re every bit as busy.

Last Friday evening I attended a reception for the December graduates at Urbana University. I have to share one really neat story. There was a gentleman who stood out in particular who was graduating with a degree in Business. He was so excited he just couldn’t sit down and enjoy the refreshments. He told me he will turn 60 in three months and plans to continue in his current job, and he feels his degree will make him a better employee. What an inspiration! Here’s a man who truly embraces being a lifelong learner.

Tuesday afternoon I attended grant presentations by the Union County Business-Education Workforce Team (through the Chamber of Commerce). The grants are presented for projects that tie academic instruction to real-world applications. (That’s what we do best, isn’t it!) We’ve received these grants in the past, and this year three of our teachers received grants! Congratulations to Sally Andrews, Health Technologies Teacher at Marysville; Ben Ludlow, Construction Trades Teacher at Marysville; and Cheryl Hess, Biomedical Sciences Teacher at Marysville and Urbana. Sally’s project involves students becoming certified in EKG, Cheryl’s project will provide equipment to study human body systems and view autopsies and surgeries, and Ben’s project will involve building shelving for a local community agency. What great opportunities for our students!

Wednesday morning was our Secondary Stakeholders Meeting where we invite key business and community leaders to give us input on our work toward meeting the goals of Perkins legislation. We had what I and the H.S. administrative team felt was one of the best discussions ever. In a nutshell, we’re performing well, we have room for improvement, and we have plans in place to reach our goals. And we need to continue to counter the stigma career-tech has carried for over 30 years and make sure our communities are aware of the college-prep opportunities we offer. Of course, much of our discussion centered on the current economic situation and specifically the role career-tech can play in transitioning displaced workers and giving our high-school students every advantage in this tough job market. We’ve always been seen as a tremendous workforce development asset to our communities; but it was very apparent we’re now being seen as an even more critical solution to workforce needs. Many thanks to Joel Staudter, Shelly Swaney, and Deb Wortman for being there to share with our Stakeholders!

I know a lot of our programs are conducting community service programs during the holidays to help our less fortunate families. Doug Limes and his Building Maintenance Program are conducting a Toys for Tots drive, and it was fun to go toy shopping for the first time in many years (my nieces and nephews are all high-school age or older now!) Also, our ProjectSEARCH is collecting gifts for the holiday gift shop at Logan Acres and will be playing Santa’s Elves this Friday and next. Thanks to Doug, Mary Jo, and all the rest of you who are teaching your students to give back!

Shane Haggerty, Communications Coordinator, recently shared with me that he had been asked me to accept the role of V.P. of Professional Development for the National School Public Relations Association/Ohio for the remainder of this year. Shane will take over the professional development planning for the organization for the rest of this school year, including being in charge of NSPRA/Ohio’s spring conference. Shane will be one of two CTE professionals on the board (the other being Lisa Riegel from Delaware Area Career Center who serves as V.P. of Communications. Congratulations, Shane, and thanks for representing CTE so well at the state level!

I was in Walgreens the other evening buying batteries (when I should have been Christmas shopping so I’d have something to wrap!), and I ran into Carmen Scott, a local citizen and volunteer who was very involved with the Logan County Planning Commission when our career center was established. We talked a little bit about the presentation I had made to the Logan-Union-Champaign Planning Commission (as it’s called now) a few weeks ago about OHP. He told me his work in helping to establish our school is one the proudest accomplishments of his career because of all the lives this school has touched in such a positive way over the years. Now that’s a compliment I couldn’t help but pass along to all of you!

Many of you know I’m a huge proponent of networking in order to be successful in our work, and I often encourage our staff to “steal shamelessly” when they see best practices in other schools. I’ll end this week with a quote I came across from Woodrow Wilson: "I not only use all the brains I have, but all that I can borrow." Great advice!

Have a great weekend!