Techniques October 2012 - 39

Feature

“As a CTE educator for 16 years, I have never felt more empowered to effect change in my community, state and this nation.”—Kimberly Moody
proved to be invaluable for making our visit as seamless as possible. In addition, the ACTE Public Policy Department members were there to lend their expertise on national policy issues and to answer questions. I must say that I felt much more prepared to visit my representatives following this session. As I listened to the various speakers and presenters throughout the conference, in the forefront of my mind were thoughts of the future of CTE and how the information I was hearing would impact CTE programs back at home in Nevada. Many ideas came to mind as I learned more about college and career readiness, CTE’s role in secondary and postsecondary education, and CTE’s role in current and future workforce-training efforts. I felt very fortunate to be privy to this information, and I felt excited to return home to share the information with other CTE educators in my state. It is my belief that any educator who is fortunate enough to be able to attend an NPS event will indeed be much more knowledgeable and prepared to face the issues affecting CTE and the state of education from the broadest perspective. Upon adjournment of the seminar, I must say my highest expectations were indeed met. I had anticipated learning many new things, but I had not anticipated all that I would learn about the CTE world and its interconnectedness to the infrastructure of this country. All the new things that I learned from attending the conference sessions ran the gamut from how to approach legislators on Capitol Hill, to how to assess the current standing on federal funding as it relates to my state, to how to implement the recently adopted
www.acteonline.org

Common Core State Standards. I would without a doubt attend a future ACTE NPS. As a CTE educator for 16 years, I have never felt more empowered to effect change in my community, state and this nation.

Christine Nelson
Although this was not my first time attending NPS—it was my third—I was still very nervous for the visits on the Hill; but when I saw the Capitol and walked through the buildings, a patriotic feeling overwhelmed me, and I realized I had the freedom to walk into our congressmen’s and senators’ offices to discuss our educational cause. Not only that, but I also felt like I was now an attendee who could start giving advice to new attendees. Arizona has developed a very successful plan for each visit. We present a binder to each representative containing all the current numbers showing how CTE works every day in the classroom, from low dropout rates to higher standardized test scores. Our individual groups spent over an hour covering what each of us would be sharing with the representative or aide. We reviewed each representative’s voting history and whether they were a Democrat or Republican, as we learned in a session this makes a difference in our approach. We also had information in the binder that showed the number of student completers in each of our programs and, of course, all our business cards. With only 15 minutes to speak, we have become very proficient at what needs to be said, from personal stories, to asking for Perkins levels to be restored to FY2010 levels, to how we are developing business partnerships within our communities. The actual visit can be intimidating, but I encourage you to stay focused as it is imperative to have a plan and stick to it when meeting your legislators. The seasoned NPS attendees prepared each of us for a successful visit. With district funding being so tight and possibly being able to attend only one

“… When I saw the Capitol and walked through the buildings, a patriotic feeling overwhelmed me, and I realized I had the freedom to walk into our congressmen’s and senators’ offices to discuss our educational cause. Not only that, but I also felt like I was now an attendee who could start giving advice to new attendees.” —Christine Nelson
or two conferences a year, I would highly recommend the NPS, as it really has given me a much deeper understanding of how hard the ACTE Public Policy Department works for us and for our funding.
Jim Comer is the ACTE immediate past president and is a former vice president of the Adult Workforce/PACE Division. Currently, he is the adult coordinator at Francis Tuttle Technology Center. He can be reached at jcomer@francistuttle.edu. Candice Beasley is the safety training specialist at Mid America Technology Center in Wayne, Oklahoma. She is also president of OKPACE and an accomplished calf roper. She can be reached at cbeasley@matech.edu. Kimberly Moody is a project facilitator in
the Clark Co. School District Career & Technical Education Dept. in Las Vegas, Nevada. Prior to that, she taught business and computer courses for 15 years at the high school level. Kimberly serves as the Nevada ACTE treasurer. She can be reached at kfmoody@interact.ccsd.net.

Christine Nelson teaches at Highland High School
in Gilbert, Arizona. She worked in banking, sales and community relations before becoming a teacher. She is the secretary for Arizona ACTE. She can be reached at christine.nelson@gilbertschools.net.

It’s not too early to begin thinking about attending the 2013 ACTE National Policy Seminar which will be held March 4–6 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia.

October 2012

Techniques

Techniques October 2012

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