Career Tech in ECS
College and Career READY!
Volume Two Number One First Quarter 2017-2018
What is a CTSO??
Career Tech Student Organizations
FCCLA - Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America
During the 2016-2017 schoolyear, FCCLA members completed several community service projects. Students decorated and delivered pumpkins to residents at the Enterprise Nursing/Rehab Facility and provided a Christmas dinner party for residents at the Enterprise Retirement Center. Also, three FCCLA members traveled to State competition and competed in State STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) Events. Students brought home one gold and two silver medals. EHS FCCLA’s gold medal winner competed this past summer at National FCCLA Competition in Nashville, TN and won gold again.
This year’s FCCLA members are off to a great start, traveling to Birmingham for the Joint Leadership Development Conference event and planning to continue the community projects with the Nursing/Rehab Facility and the Retirement Center. FCCLA sponsors are also planning for more students to participate in the State STAR Event contest and hopefully again compete at the National contest, this year to be held in Atlanta, GA.
HOSA - Health Occupations Students of America
Last year’s EHS HOSA included 140 members; 28 competed at the Alabama HOSA Leadership Conference, and six attended the HOSA International Leadership Conference. HOSA members completed multiple service activities: taught first aid and hygiene to summer camp kids at the Rec Center, worked the Fall Festival, passed out Breast Cancer stickers, hosted the annual blood drive, raised money for NAMI, made and delivered meals food items for for hospice patients, nursing home residents, and the health science advisory committee.
HOSA has already had a very busy year for 2017-2018. This summer, members helped with the ECS Nutrition Bus by preparing meals and delivering them to the community, students worked the medical/first aid desk and worked with special needs kids at WinShape Camp, students taught Rec Center kids about hand hygiene, heart health, and dental hygiene, and HOSA Officers attended an Officer Leadership Conference at Callaway Gardens in July. Since the school year has begun, members helped with the CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) Fair and taught "Hands-Only" CPR, ran a medical relay for the Homecoming Festival, attended the JLDC (Joint Leadership Development Conference), and have made Mummy Puddings for residents at the nursing home and will be delivering them to the residents on October 21st. Activities planned for November include passing out NAMI ribbons, HOSA Blood Drive (Tuesday, Nov.7 in the MPR), meeting with the Mayor, Scrub Day, and witnessing the Wiregrass Life Flight landing on the EHS campus. The annual HOSA Chocolate Walk is scheduled for February 3rd; watch for more information in 2018.
TSA - Technology Student Association
FFA - The National FFA Organization
FFA at EHS had a very successful 2016-2017 year. Forty-six members attended the State Convention and brought home numerous awards, including Top Ranked Chapter, 1st Place awards in Parliamentary Procedure, Conduct of a Chapter Meeting, Agriculture Education, and Crime Prevention Award; 2nd Place award in Nursery/ Landscape; 3rd Place awards in Floriculture, Aquaculture, Veterinary Science, Diversified Agriculture Production Proficiency Award, and 4th Place award in Poultry Evaluation. Additionally, the club was recognized for 13 State FFA Degree Recipients, the 100% Membership Award, Bryce Hendricks was named Alabama State FFA Sentinel, Summer Parker was named South District FFA Vice President, Jordan Stowe was named the National FFA Officer Candidate for Alabama, and Mr. Jerad Dyess received an Honorary FFA Degree.
The organization is off to a great start for the 2017-2018 school year, with 18 members competing at the National Convention in Indianapolis. FFA members are busy working their largest fundraiser event, the FFA Fruit Sale, now through November 8.
SkillsUSA - A SKILLED workforce for America
This year, EHS hosted the Southeast District Leadership Conference for SkillsUSA. SkillsUSA officers attended the Joint Leadership Development Conference in Birmingham, and will be participating in the Local Officer Training Conference in Montgomery later this semester. SkillsUSA sponsors anticipate members entering several contests this year at the SkillsUSA District contest in Dothan.
FBLA - Future Business Leaders of America
EHS’s 2016-2017 FBLA had six students to travel to FBLA State Conference in Birmingham, AL. This year’s FBLA is off to a great start, following the national theme for the year, “Elevate Your Future.” FBLA meetings have been full of excitement already. Activities have included bring three friends and participating in a huge Twister Game and playing an icebreaking game of charades. In October, FBLA members were able to “Elevate their Future” (and their sugar levels!) with sweet treats from a Dessert Buffet after lunch. FBLA Officers and members also hosted a Ball Toss at the EHS Homecoming Festival. Later this month, FBLA Officers will be visiting Coppinville Jr. High to speak to students about chartering a middle school level FBLA Chapter! Also in October, FBLA members will have a booth at the Boll Weevil Fall Festival downtown. Patrons are welcome to come by for baked goods, Spirit fans, and shirts for purchase from the EHS store, as well as a Pumpkin Toss game for children to enjoy free of charge. In November, FBLA is excited to kick off and host the EHS March of Dimes Premature Awareness Week, November 13-17!
Blue Knights and Belles of the Blue Knights
Both the Blue Knights and the Belles of the Blue Knights are currently gearing up for another year of competition. They currently have 8 competitions scheduled and hope to add more.
The 2016-2017 school year for Career and Technical Education (CTE) can be summed up on one word…WOW! There have been several distinctions that the Enterprise City Schools CTE Department has earned this year ranging from students placement in competition based upon a particular skill they possess, to the entire department being recognized by the State as being one of [if not in my opinion] the best departments in Alabama!
Another reason to celebrate the 2016-2017 school year in CTE is the number of Career Readiness Indicators (CRIs) students earned this school year. CRIs are the credentials/certifications made available to students enrolled in a CTE program where career and technical skill proficiencies are aligned with industry-recognized standards. The credential provides proof that the student possesses the minimum skills required for entry-level employment. CRIs are recorded on the student’s high school transcript and are part of the current state accountability model as an indicator of students' college and career readiness. In the 2014-15 school year, EHS students earned 204 CRIs; 2015-2016, 260; in the 2016-2017 school year, students earned 583 CRIs! We had a 224% increase in the number of students earning CRIs from the 15-16 school year to the 16-17 school year at EHS! Congrats EHS teachers!
Last school year, EHS offered the following CRIs: National Center for Construction Education Research Core, Beef Quality Assurance, Landscape Management Technician, Forestry Worker Certification, Alabama Educator Certification Assessment Program, Adobe Certified Associate, Microsoft Office Specialist, Certified Nursing Assistant, Basic Life Support Instructor, ServSafe, CompTIA Information Technology Fundamentals, Autodesk Inventor, Electronics Basic Digital, and Automotive Service Excellence Certifications.
This school year we will continue to offer the aforementioned CRIs, and will add four new CRIs that students can earn at EHS. Two are from Health Science, Certified EKG Technician, and Certified Patient Care Technician; one from STEM, the Fuji Automatic NUmerical Control (FANUC ) certification; and one from Accounting, Quickbooks. The Education Testing Service Praxis Core will take the place of the past Alabama Educator Certification Assessment Program CRI.
Additionally, we are also continually trying to improve and expand our course offerings. For this school year, at the junior high level, students have the opportunity to take a Medical Detectives course. Also at the junior highs, teachers are creating a junior high school CTSO, Technology Student Association (TSA), that will serve to feed the existing high school's TSA at EHS. Coppinville Junior High is also in the midst of creating their own middle school Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter. At EHS, for the 2016-17 school year, we added a Computer Science Principles course and had 11 of 14 students pass the AP examination for this course! We have also added a couple of new programs at EHS that students may choose to enroll in, the Health Information Technology Academy or the Accounting Academy. Ninth graders will have the opportunity to enroll in a Computer Science Discoveries course with the hopes to garner interest in the field of Information Technology.
Recall that last summer we opened a new school for Wiregrass students to attend. Upon this school coming to fruition in July 2016, the Wiregrass Center of Excellence (WCoE) and its partner K-12 schools (Coffee County Schools, newly added for 2017 Daleville City Schools, Elba City Schools, Enterprise City Schools, Geneva County Schools, and Geneva City Schools), and community colleges (Enterprise State Community College (ESCC), Lurleen B. Wallace Community College, and Wallace Community College) provided more Dual enrollment opportunities for students. In the Fall 2016 semester, students could only opt to enroll in one program, Information Technology. For the first semester, 16 total students enrolled in the IT Program; there were 10 total students second semester.
We have also been working to expand program offerings within WCoE to include other workforce development needs as well. Working with ESCC, we have added the Emergency Medical Services program to the WCoE, while working with Lurleen B. Wallace and Wallace Community College, we have added Microcomputer Applications and Medical Assisting, respectively. I am very pleased to share the fruits of our labor for the coming 2017-2018 school year:
Our student enrollment numbers for WCoE are:
19 students registered for the IT Program
1 student registered for the Microcomputer Applications program
12 students registered for the Emergency Medical Services programs
16 students registered for Medical Assisting
Future plans include expanding career and technical course offerings within Enterprise City Schools as well as the WCoE for the 2017 - 2018 school year. Stay tuned!!!