By: Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
One of Buckeye Central’s own was recognized in Washington D.C. last Tuesday during the United States Department of Education’s Celebrations of Innovations in Career and Technical Education event.
Tyler Pope, who has spent the past nine years building the Agriculture Education program at Buckeye Central was invited to attend the White House’s Celebrating Innovations in Career and Technical Education Event and received recognition as the National FFA Association’s National Career Technology Innovator representative.
The event was held in the South Ballroom of the Eisenhower Executive Building within the White House complex, and was hosted to highlight the strength of Career and Technical Education (CTE) within the Obama Administration’s education platform and to spur discussions targeted at the continued advancement of Career and Technical Education.
Pope explained that his one takeaway from the event was the support that the national leaders have for career and technology programs.
“You don’t realize the support you have and we have a lot of support for career tech education from our national leaders,” Pope said. “The Obama administration and Michelle spoke with us, but also everyone within the department of education really kind of showed me that they feel that career tech education is going to be vitally important to the students. Giving them a skill; that a diploma won’t be enough to be successful.”
Pope, one of three people recognized from Ohio, was the only representative from Crawford County of the 40 students and teachers being recognized.
Pope explained that his favorite part of the whole event was speaking with the students and relating it to the classrooms in Crawford County.
“I enjoyed talking to them and listening to their experiences and what their innovations were, and I thought to myself you know, these are some great kids, but they aren’t too far off from what we’ve got with the kids in Crawford County or here at Buckeye Central,” Pope said. “They just filled out the application. And so it made me feel that they are on a national stage, and that is great and wonderful for them, but we got kids I think in this county that could have easily have been there as well, that are doing great things too. But I really enjoyed talking with the students and the other teachers as well.”
The event was kicked off with remarks by Cecilia Munoz, Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Domestic Policy. Munoz’s remarks were based on the highly engaging CTE course framework and its ability to connect students to real life situations and career opportunities.
Munoz was followed by the First Lady Michelle Obama who addressed the 180 in attendance. The First Lady highlighted the President’s plan to transform Career and Technical Education. The basis of the President’s plan for CTE reform revolves around the reauthorization of the Perkins Act which is a principle source of federal funding for secondary and postsecondary CTE programs.
Michelle Obama highlighted the four core principles for the transformation of CTE: effective alignment between CTE and labor markets, strong collaboration between secondary and postsecondary institutions, meaningful accountability for improving academic and employability skills, and finally, an increased emphasis on innovation supported by systemic reform of state policies to support CTE implementation. The First Lady concluded by congratulating all of the Innovators being recognized and gave her words of advice going forward, “We believe in you, you have the raw materials to do what you desire to do, be great.”
Following the First Lady, the 180 in attendance were given the opportunity to discuss the Vision and Future of CTE with two panels of education and CTE experts. These panels of advisors discussed how beneficial CTE is to the students of America and how a concerted effort is needed to ensure that every student has the opportunity to not only receive a high school diploma upon graduation but that they also have a set of skills that will make them marketable and successful in the local, state, national, and global economy.