Date: October 4, 2013
To: Michael Z. Green, Superintendent
From: Cari Thomson, PhD
RE: Summary of Teaching and Learning - CCTE
Over the summer both HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America) and Skills USA (Family and Consumer Science Education) both competed in national competitions. Additionally, Virn Warndahl’s photograph (he placed first in state for medical photography) was auctioned off at the summer Washington Association of Vocational Administrator’s conference in Yakima.
Tim Brown’s Lego Robotics participated in Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council’s STEMFEST in September. Students modeled for other students and staff our robotics programs.
Summer is also grant writing time for CCTE and several grants have been applied for. The FIRST LEGO robotics grant was applied for and received approval for Tim Brown’s CTE program. The amount was $800.00 and we have applied and received the grant for the past three years. Additionally, I have applied for two other additional CTE grants, one for under-represented populations in CTE courses (males in biomedical), which we received $19,000 for last year and a program grant for national and state travel. We should be notified in November if we receive these. They are competitive grants. One thing to note is that grant opportunities in CTE are usually focused on high demand, high wage jobs.
Carl Perkins money is a federal grant allocation that is based upon students in CTE programs as well as need. This year the district was allocated $15,000 with an additional $1,700 enhancement. This money is distributed to CTE teachers and programs based upon program development, needs, and requests, and items addressed in the Perkins plan of improvement. More dollars have been allocated in the past based upon our expenditures from the grant in January. The bottom line is that the more you spend, the more you get. If you don’t spend it all, the less you get.
The first general advisory committee meeting for Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Career Development Consortium (CWCDC) was held on October 1st at Lower Columbia College. They have launched a new website www.cwcdc.net. Attached are a list of the events as well as how local businesses can become involved with the CWCDC.