Students to Take Part in Leadership Training Sessions

Student officers and advisers from the District’s Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) will take part in leadership training sessions at the District’s second annual CTSO Leadership Rally on Saturday, September 10, from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at Howard High School.

About 140 CTSO officers and their chapter advisers from the District’s high schools and middle schools are scheduled to attend the Rally. The District’s nine CTSOs include the Technology Student Association (TSA); SkillsUSA; Health Occupations Student Association (HOSA); Future Famers of America (FFA); Future Educators of America (FEA); Family, Community and Career Leaders of America (FCCLA); Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA); and Career and Technical Instruction (CTI).

“Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) enhance our students’ leadership and teamwork skills,” says Dr. Sharon Joyner, the District’s Director of Career, Technical and Agricultural Education (CTAE). “CTSO members have wonderful opportunities to travel, compete, and participate in community service projects. Through these activities, students begin building their résumés and preparing for future careers. The CTSO officers who will attend this Rally have been elected as leaders among their peers. The Rally will boost the officers’ knowledge and excitement as they inspire their classmates to become active CTSO members.”

The theme for this year’s CTSO Leadership Rally is REAL CTSOs, or Recruiting Energetic Active Leaders. Workshops will focus on public speaking, community service, understanding your office, membership recruitment/retention, and business etiquette.

Featured guest speakers will include Jadun McCarthy, 2012 Georgia Teacher of the Year; Bryant Collier, 2008-2009 FBLA State Officer; Alice Bailey; Jeffrey Nicklas, Executive Director of the Macon Rescue Mission; and Walter Burgess, Marketing Education Industry Certification Chair. Nicklas also will present the group with information about community service project ideas.

The purpose of the Rally is to teach students what it takes to be an active leader within their organization. These students have elected to run for a CTAE organization officer position and were selected by their peers. They are now part of the 2011-2012 CTSO leadership team, and this Rally will provide them with the necessary skills to become a REAL leader. By attending, the officers will gain the needed knowledge and ideas to run a successful CTSO. The Rally also is intended to help increase membership and involvement in CTSOs in the District. Research indicates that when students are involved in co-curricular activities at school they are more likely to flourish in all other areas of their school life from academics to discipline.

“CTSOs provide career and leadership development and are an integral component to the Career and Technical Education program,” says Dr. Cassandra Miller-Washington, CTAE Supervisor for Howard, Southwest, and Westside High Schools and Bloomfield, Ballard-Hudson, Howard, and Weaver Middle Schools. “They are more than ‘clubs’ to which only a few students belong; they are a powerful instructional tool that brings the ‘real world’ into the classroom. This Rally will enhance the curriculum and create the leaders of tomorrow.”

“The CTSO Rally provides club officers an opportunity to hone the skills needed to be successful in their positions,” says Jason Weiss, Small Business/Marketing Teacher, Lead DECA Adviser at Howard High School, and Georgia’s Outstanding New Career and Technical Teacher for the Georgia Association for Career and Technical Education and the Georgia Marketing Educators’ Association. “It also reveals a glimpse into what those CTSO leadership roles can offer them in their future endeavors.”

Howard High School is located at 6400 Forsyth Road. For more information, contact Jason Weiss at (478) 779-4915.