Congratulations to Pasco’s young entrepreneurs who competed in the 2022 Pasco Young Entrepreneurs' Competition! The PYEC is a fun, annual “Shark Tank” competition where students have the opportunity to share their business plan and idea concept to a panel of judges from our local business community. The winning team receives support and seed money to develop and bring their product to market!

A special thank you to our business partner judges who share their love for everything entrepreneurship and help our students gain confidence with their “power” skills, such as presentation, public speaking, teamwork, perseverance, and time management- just to name a few!

Another special thank you to our amazing Pasco County Business Education and Marketing teachers who help to prepare our students with the essential skills they need to be successful in life, career, and college, and to our LOLHS Culinary students (and their highly skilled instructors) who provided hors d’oeuvres! Last but not least, a HUGE shout out to CTAE Program Specialist Michael Butler who coordinated this event!

• Please share information about your program that you would like considered for the CTE monthly newsletter (photos, awards, events, certifications, etc.).

• Don't forget that you can email Pam Willoughby (pwilloug@pasco.k12.fl.us) with news and photos you want posted on our social media platforms at any time throughout the month.

Lana Guzman, Pasco's Outstanding Senior, has been nominated to serve as the Area V Vice President of Florida FFA. This is the first time Wesley Chapel High School has had a FFA State Officer Candidate. If elected, Lana (pictured: front row, far right) will be installed during next month's State Convention & Expo in Orlando.

Congratulations to Wesley Chapel High School’s Digital Video Technology teacher, Stephanie Bertig and her amazingly creative students for an outstanding representation in the 22nd Annual WCHS Student Film Festival! The student short films showcased all of the ideas and skills they’ve developed. It was truly impressive, especially for the capacity crowd of students that attended the event at the Performing Arts Center at Wesley Chapel.

Congratulations to our 19 River Ridge High School “New Teacher Academy” students who signed official contracts with Pasco County Schools, guaranteeing them a teaching job when they finish their college teacher preparation programs! Thank you to teacher Beth Murdock Warren Hess for being the beacon of light for this program and her students!

Marchman Technical College hosted Calusa Elementary for their alphabet countdown. "J is for jobs." Kindergarten students had the opportunity to learn about many new careers.

- submitted by Alicia Leary

Students in Land O' Lakes High School's Academy of Culinary Arts have been especially busy this spring! They've catered numerous events throughout the district and have even cured, smoked, packaged and sold their own bacon. Kudos to Chefs Jessica Cooper and Jeremy Blythe for teaching and training their young chefs to continually showcase their culinary skills and customer service.

Thomas E. Weightman Middle School students are getting excited for next year's Coding Discoveries class as they learn about Cue Robot.

- submitted by Jenna Eyers

The Fivay High School Criminal Justice Program was asked to support a Prom Promise event in conjunction with the Pasco Fire and Rescue, and Sheriffs Departments. CJ4 Senior students took charge of the task and rewrote the existing activity script while adding a great new ending. The event culminated in one of our 18-year-old students being air lifted from the staged accident scene. The event, performed before the junior and senior classes, is intended to give student drivers a realistic depiction of the results of a drunk driving accident. Special thanks to teachers J.T. Heckler and Taylor Greenwood-Von Frank for their heartfelt rendition of parents.

- submitted by Denis Riel

April was jam-packed with fun-filled learning experiences for Adult ESOL at Wesley Chapel. Students once again had the opportunity to visit Marchman Technical College as the Phoenix ambassadors graciously provided guided tours of the beautiful campus and its amazing programs. Instructor Rebecca Sandy presented the Award of Excellence to Maria Belen Quinones in front of all of the participants which was a lovely surprise.

In the classroom, students challenged themselves with a variety of tasks to learn the simple past tense. The English learners created biography posters of famous Americans. Ximena Millan, Martha Pajaro, and Edithmar Jimenez took home first place honors for their "enlightening" presentation of Thomas Edison. Students went fishing to practice irregular past tense verbs in a fast-paced game designed by a former student.

The evening ESOL classes have come a long way in a very short time. Students have become more confident in speaking in front of others as evident from their recent presentations. They really love dynamic activities such as our English egg hunt where they had to answer grammar questions inside of the eggs that were hidden all around the room. For some students, they had never participated in an egg hunt before, so this was a unique learning experience!

Finally, the morning class did an impromptu drama production of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." This was actually a preview of our end-of-the-year spectacular that will feature poetry, songs, and drama. It's going to be great! Stay tuned!

- submitted by Rebecca Sandy, ESOL Instructor

Pasco Adult Education @Wesley Chapel