Illinois

IACTE hosted its 93rd Annual Conference and IACTE Annual Meeting on Feb. 16–17, 2023 at the Bloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. The theme of the 2023 conference was "Connecting Passion to Opportunity." The conference featured 80 breakout sessions, 40 vendors, a record 403 attendees, and featured speaker, Terry Sumerlin, People Connectors.

Illinois Association of Career and Technical Education Award Winners:

Administrator of the Year – Dallas Terry

Lifetime Achievement – Dr. Debra Kellus

Teacher of the Year – Nick Moran

Postsecondary Teacher of the Year – Dr. Jason Tanner

Teacher Educator of the Year – Dr. April Kowlocki

New Teacher of the Year – Brandi LeQuai

On March 9, IACTE hosted its first CTE Showcase Day since 2019 at the Illinois State Capitol. CTE students from across the state set up displays and booths in the rotunda and demonstrated the skills they have learned while meeting with their local legislators to share the importance of CTE. The showcase ended with a rally featuring student speakers who shared their experiences and the impact CTE has had on their lives. (See photos below)

Iowa

A contingency of Iowa ACTE members, chaperones, and CTE students attended the ACTE National Policy Seminar in Washington, DC, on March 19–22, and it was a huge success. The students did a fantastic job telling their CTE stories and asking for increased support for CTE at the federal level. The Iowa group attended legislative meetings with all six U.S. legislators (four U.S. Representatives and two U.S. Senators). The group also had a U.S. Capitol Tour conducted by Senator Ernst’s office. Shelby Berte, ACTE New Professional Fellow, was part of the group. Students who attended NPS were Ryan Wolf, FFA NE State Vice President, Ian Hertenstein, FCCLA President, and Sanya Oli, HOSA President. Iowa ACTE hosted a CTE Day at the Capitol on Feb. 9 that was attended by dozens of CTE students and teachers. The IWBL hosted a conference on April 4 and several CTE divisions have upcoming 2023 events as follows:

IAAE Conference: June 25–27

IFCSE Conference: Aug. 2–3

IBEA Conference: Sept. 17–18

Iowa ACTE plans to host exhibits at each conference.

After a decade of outstanding service, Iowa ACTE Executive Director Sandy Miller has announced her retirement effective June 30. Under Sandy’s leadership, Iowa ACTE has grown in membership, held many successful conferences, received multiple QAS awards, held several successful advocacy events each year, and much more. We appreciate all that Sandy has done in support of Iowa ACTE and CTE students and teachers. Interviews have been held for her replacement and an announcement will be coming soon.

Minnesota

The MACTA CTE Policy & Leadership Fellowship is a year-long leadership fellowship focusing on state and federal education policy through the lens of career and technical education. The 2022–23 academic year is the second year of the fellowship. The goal of the fellowship is to build long-term capacity planning across Minnesota for CTE leaders who have a greater understanding of CTE policy and how to navigate the structures of state and federal government. Additionally, a secondary goal is to have a broader network of highly knowledgeable CTE champions across the state to assure a strong career and technical educational foundation and workforce and voice well into the future. We are nearing the end of this great opportunity and have 15 very talented and informed professionals.

MACTA is also sponsoring a pre-conference right before the Teach CTE Summit in St. Paul, Minnesota. This is an opportunity for updates on Minnesota CTE legislation and teacher licensure. It also will provide an introductory discussion on the upcoming four-year state Perkins plan.

Missouri

State CTE leaders are working hard to finalize plans for the Region III Conference to be held in the Springfield/Branson area. The registration link is available, so please make sure to register! We are looking forward to an amazing conference! There is a partner conference after the Region III Conference on using drones that is being sponsored by the Missouri DESE and iCEV. They are limiting participation to 60, so if you are interested register ASAP! While working on the Region III conference, we are also in the final planning stages of our state association conference in July. It will be a great summer of professional development in Missouri!

Missouri recently completed CTSO state competitions. The Missouri governor attended the SkillsUSA conference. The support of CTE by the Missouri government, from legislators to the governor and everyone in between, is wonderful! We really do appreciate the support we get!