Career Technical Education students representing Central Baldwin Middle, Bay Minette Middle, Fairhope Middle, Robertsdale High School, South Baldwin Center of Technology and Spanish Fort High explored career opportunities as they traveled to the Joint Leadership Development Conference in Montgomery.

Teacher/Advisors from each of the Career Tech Student Organizations utilized the Alabama Success guide as a way to lead students to explore different career interest areas.

Students in Career Technical Education programs are using software programs to identify their aptitudes, skill test, and learning styles. The middle school programs engage students to start now exploring their interest so that when they enter high school and the Career Tech Centers in the north and central campuses, they can focus on the important decisions of where to continue their education for that career choice.

Alabama Career Clusters and Pathways offer guidance in work-based learning, post secondary education and four year college and university programs.

As the 2011-2012 school years begin, the annual Joint Leadership Conference on Sept 26-27 at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel invited all CTSO chapter officers and delegates throughout Alabama to meet and listen to many leaders throughout our nation.

This year’s theme was “Your Future Is No Illusion”. Rhett Laubach spoke to an audience of 2,000 plus about how to communicate like a master. Brad Barton demonstrated his magic with the fact that our future is in our hands. The next day was filled with 45-minute tracks of listening to more leaders.

Southern Company is the parent electrical industry for Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Georgia power companies, and at the conference they challenged all students across our state to be a part of the industry that is changing our energy future.

Manufacture Alabama also offered speakers to learn about the many other growing companies like Austil, Thyssen Krupp Steel, and Hyundai that have made Alabama their home and continue to bring jobs and opportunities to our state.

Students also attended workshops on financial literacy, impromptu speaking, cyber bullying, high tech crimes, and identifies who really loses. Prior to arriving at this conference, the day was spent job shadowing some very interesting people, careers, and work environments.

Many thanks to Mr. Roger Yeargan at Mitchell Dam and Ms. Lori Ashcomb at the state Emergency Management Agency in Chilton County. They hosted this delegation of students to tour and see first hand the many available careers through the agriculture, food and natural resources, architecture and construction, and government and public administration clusters through the SUCCESS planner.

Youth today are blessed with technology and can enjoy science, nature, and simply working outdoors to prepare for exciting careers. An engineer that designs our roads and uses water systems to transition potential energy in a lake to kinetic energy that generates electricity to supply our homes and businesses is incredible.

Our group then moved to the state Emergency Management Agency office where we were invited to sit in the very seats of a room that six months ago occupied team players that analyzed the crisis of this past spring tornadoes.

As we all listened we could see signs around the room that identified the many groups that continue to work to assist our citizens and communities.

It is humbling. Every family was challenged to identify hazards around their home, create a disaster plan, prepare emergency to-go kits, practice their plans, evaluate and then follow the plan. 

Exposing students to these careers can assist them to go to school in Alabama, work in Alabama, and raise their families in Alabama.