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Winter Quarterly News Update

Happy New Year, ETED Members!

Cheers to a New Year of Growth and Collaboration!

As we step into 2025, I think it is a perfect time to reflect on the goals instead of New Year’s resolutions. Goals are more effective than New Year's resolutions because they are specific, actionable, and measurable. While resolutions often feel vague and lofty, goals give you a clear direction and a roadmap to follow, making it easier to track progress and stay motivated. Goals are about setting yourself up for success with concrete steps, rather than just hoping for change.

This year’s goal for Engineering & Technology Education Division (ETED) is to strengthen and grow our partnerships, share innovative ideas, and collaborate even more closely to support each other and our career and technical education (CTE) students.

Together, we can tackle new challenges, push boundaries, and create meaningful experiences that help all of us thrive in our careers. Let’s make this year one where we not only achieve our individual goals but also work hand-in-hand to elevate CTE and ACTE to new heights!!!

Feel free to reach out at any time with comments, concerns, and/or suggestions.

Looking forward to an amazing year… together!

Sincerely,

Snehal Bhakta

LinkedIn

VP, ACTE Engineering and Technology Education Division

ETED Division News

ETED had an incredible presence at ACTE's CareerTech VISION 2024 conference! Our opening session had so many amazing partners speak and share resources as well as hosting hospitality rooms for our members to enjoy during the conference.

Special kudos to LEGO Education for bringing the #BuildtoGive activity to our hospitality room. For every kit we built, a LEGO® set was donated to children around the world in need of the superpower of play.

VISION 2024 was an incredible opportunity to connect, learn, and celebrate the work we do as ETED professionals. Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the success of our division. I hope to see you at VISION 2025, happening Dec. 10–13 in Nashville, Tennessee!

From ACTE

ACTE Announces Board of Directors 2025 Election Results

ACTE recently held its board of directors’ election, which was open to the Association’s membership of approximately 28,000 CTE professionals. We sincerely thank all of the candidates for their dedication and willingness to serve the Association. Congratulations to the newly elected Board members:

• Brandon Russell, President-Elect
• Jonathan Walker, Business Education Division Vice President
• Michael Herrera, Region I Vice President-Elect
• Michael Ogas, Region IV Vice President-Elect
• Robert Torres, President (appointed by the ACTE Board of Directors)
• Lavyne Rada, Agricultural Education Division Vice President (appointed by the ACTE Board of Directors)

Celebrate CTE Month!

Generously sponsored by NAHB

Each year in February, we celebrate professionals like you and educate the public about the importance of career and technical education (CTE). Here are some ways to get involved!

• Share our CTE social media messages by following ACTE @actecareertech and @actecareertech1 on Instagram, and then share your own success stories on social media with #CTEMonth.
• Download graphic resources, including the CTE Month logo, available in English and in Spanish, for use with any of your print and digital outreach.
•  Gear up with festive CTE Month merchandise. 

Submit Your Session Proposals for VISION 2025!

Join your peers at ACTE’s largest annual conference of the year for CTE professionals! ACTE’s CareerTech VISION 2025 will take place Dec. 10–13 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. We are seeking session proposals that address high-quality secondary and postsecondary CTE and showcase program innovations, stories of successful collaborations and the most pressing issues facing CTE professionals today. The deadline to submit session proposals is March 15.

Raise Awareness for CTE at NPS 

Join CTE professionals from across the nation to voice your vision on policy and programming. Attend ACTE’s National Policy Seminar (NPS), happening March 16–19 in Arlington, Virginia.  

• Engage on key federal education policy priorities. 
• Influence federal policies related to CTE advocacy and messaging. 
• Participate in Capitol Hill visits. 
• Hear from featured keynote speaker Melanie Zanona, senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl News.

Register by Feb. 16 to secure early bird rates. 

Join Us at Our Annual WBL Conference  

Happening April 2–4 at the Hyatt Bellevue on Seattle’s Eastside in Bellevue, Washington: the ACTE Work-Based Learning (WBL) Conference 2025! ACTE’s fastest growing event offers focused professional development for WBL professionals in secondary and postsecondary CTE programs and institutions.  

Key topics 

• Partnership engagement and relationship management 
• Equitable access to WBL opportunities 
• Compliance with insurance and worker’s compensation-related laws and regulations   
• Internships, job shadows and apprenticeships 
• New and innovative WBL initiatives
• WBL advocacy and learning how to market and grow your program 

CTE Educators: Encourage Your Students to Enter ACTE’s Student Design Contests!

This year, ACTE is delighted to host three student design and video contests:

• CTE Month-NASA HUNCH Student Video Challenge: The theme for this year is “What is Artemis?” Encourage your students to create and submit videos, two minutes or less in length, by April 1.
• Student Merch Design Contest: In honor of ACTE’s 100th anniversary in 2026, we invite students to submit original artwork for a chance to be featured on our official centennial merchandise! Entries are due by May 1.
• Student Trophy Design Contest: Have your students design the 3D-printed trophies for ACTE’s prestigious Excellence Awards. Submissions are due by May 1.

Encourage your students to showcase their creativity and talent in these exciting contests!

Apply for the Achieve 100 Award  

ACTE's Achieve 100 Award is presented to schools and institutions that achieve 100% membership among their CTE staff and faculty. This is a distinguished award that showcases an organization's dedication and commitment to career and technical education. Applications are due Feb. 1.