ReporterReporterFall 2010

Mississippi Association for Career and Technical Education

A Message From Your President, Richard HartleyI hope that your school year has gotten off to a great start. I know all of you are busy with studentsand curriculum.

The summer was a great success, thanks to everyone who attended. We were blessed to have Dr.Tom Burnham, State Superintendent of Education, as our keynote speaker; it was an encouragementfor me to hear our State Superintendent of Education say that it was his vocational teacher in highschool that influenced him to pursue a career in education. Dr.Burnham made a commitment to sup-port Career Technical Education in Mississippi. He has appointed a Strategic Planning Committeeto chart the course of Career Technical Education for the future. Thank you to Dr. Burnham forshowing your support to Career Technical Education.

I would like to take a few lines to share my passion. Membership is the lifeblood of any organiza-tion. Thank you for joining the organization and making it strong. Please try to make it a priority to go down the hall and getnew members this year. I want to ask all of our Directors to step up, be a leader, and join our organization.

When I started my career, my vocational agriculture teacher, Mr. Guy Walker said to me, “Richard, you are a professional now,join the professional organization and go to work.” There have been times when I thought I could not pay my dues but alwaysmanaged. His advice has always been “solid advice.”

As we look to the future we are faced with some perilous times. It is those “hard times” that have made us a strong organiza-tion.

It is time once again for us to stand strong. I recently saw a quote that said “individually we are strong, together we are fear-less.” Our organization has made a difference in the lives of our students in the past, let’s continue to prove it.

Greetings From Your Executive Director, Linda BathGreetings from the MS ACTE office. Thanks for your continued support of career/technical education by being a member ofACTE. A special thanks to the district presidents for hosting their fall meetings and to all of you who attended them!

At the October Board Meeting, it was decided that we would not have the annual Legislative Reception or Spring Meeting in2011. The awards that are normally presented at this Spring Meeting will be given at the Summer Conference. The deadline fornominations to be sent to Mary Taylor, Awards Committee Chairperson, is January 29. You can download the awards bookletfrom our web site: Mississippiacte.com. Click on the awards booklet to print it and nominate colleagues and/or students.Mississippi has many deserving people who need to be showcased. January 29 is also the deadline for nominating someone for2nd Vice President of MS ACTE. The board set the date and place for the 2011 Summer Conference. It will be July 26-28 at theRankin Campus of Hinds Community College in Pearl.

Mississippi will be the host state for the ACTE Region IV Conference. The conference will be April 14-16, 2011, at the BeauRivage in Biloxi. I hope you will mark your calendars and make plans to attend. Mississippi is the host state every six years, sothis is a great opportunity to attend this regional meeting. Click on the Region IV Conference button for information. If you areinterested in doing a presentation, you can submit the Call for Presenters Form for consideration. If chosen, your registration feewill be waived.

If I can be of assistance to you, please contact me.

The students inHattiesburg HighSchool’s new Hotel,Restaurant, andTourism programhit the ground run-ning this year. In theabove picture, you

see students practicing their serving skills at a breakfast theyhosted for their guidance counselors. Dr. Dena Semmons,SPED Transitional Specialist, stated “We all were veryimpressed with the students. They were professional, articulate,and a pleasure! They appear to be enjoying the class, as well.”

The program’s instructor, Eileen Sumlin, has big plans for herstudents. She is in the process of setting up internship oppor-

tunities at localhotels and restau-rants, is going toutilize area busi-nesses for lab experiencefor her students, and isplanning to have a veryactive DECA organiza-tion this year. Sumlin stat-ed, “I have a wonderfulgroup of students. Theyare all very motivated andare ready to work. Wehave all been having a lotof fun learning about thenew program.”

Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism is NEW to Hattiesburg High

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Rex Buckhaults, 2010 MississippiAssociation of Secondary Vocational

Administrator of the YearMr. Rex Buckhaults was selected as the MississippiAssociation of Secondary Vocational Administrators2010 Administrator of the Year. He was presented with aplaque at the Summer Conference for Career andTechnical Educators in Vicksburg. Mr. Buckhaults wasalso elected as second Vice President of the MississippiAssociation of Career and Technical Educators.

Rex Buckhaults is the Vocational Director at PerryCounty Vocational Technical Center in New Augusta,Mississippi. The Vocational Center serves both PerryCentral High School students as well as Richton HighSchool students.

Mr. Buckhaults has been the Vocational Administratorfor Perry County Schools for the past 18 Years. He is a graduate of Jones CountyJunior College and Mississippi State University. Mr. Buckhaults also earned hisAdministration Certification from William Carey College and an EducationSpecialist Degree from Mississippi State University.

We, the faculty and staff at Perry County Vo-Tech, know that this is a great accom-plishment and we are very proud to have Rex Buckhaults as our VocationalDirector.

Robert Barnard, Jr.,2010-11

MississippiCooperative

Education Teacherof the Year

South Panola Career and TechnicalEducation Director Billy Smith con-gratulates South Panola CooperativeEducation Teacher Robert Barnard Jr.,for receiving the 2010-11 MississippiCooperative Education Teacher of theYear from MACVET.

Barnard has taught for 15 years, includ-ing the last ten years at South PanolaHigh School and was also namedTeacher of the Year by the Civitan Clubat last May's SPHS awards ceremonies.Barnard completed his Master's ofScience in Workforce EducationalLeadership this summer at MSU.

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2010 SHS graduate continues to earnscholarships after graduation

2010 SHS graduate Larry Henleyreturned to his alma mater to receiveone of two statewide scholarshipsawarded by the Mississippi Associationof Secondary Vocational Administra-tors. Henley, who will be a freshman atMississippi College beginning thismonth, was presented a $500 scholar-ship from Millsaps Career andTechnology Director Jamie Stidham

and Allied Health Instructor Vanessa,Wilson, RN, on behalf of theMississippi Association for Career andTechnology Education. Henley wasselected for the scholarship based on hisoutstanding leadership skills and aca-demic record. Henley, who was a twoyear student in MCTC's Allied Healthprogram, plans to pursue a medicalcareer and become a pediatrician.Henley begins his studies in Biology-Pre-Med at Mississippi College laterthis month.

Millsaps student wins sixth place inthe national HOSA essay competition

This summer, Ariel Johnson represent-ed Millsaps Career and TechnologyCenter and state by competing in theHealth Occupations of America(HOSA) National LeadershipConference in Florida. There were over8,000 students competing in different

subjects in the health field. Johnsoncompeted in th extemporaneous writingcategory. She was given a topic and onehour to write an essay on the giventopic. Johnson's topic was: "Even if youdon't win, what benefits do you havebeing in HOSA? Johnson's essay cen-tered around how HOSA has taught herteam building skills. Though she wasnervous, Johnson's essay won sixthplace in the nation. Millsaps Career andTechnology Director is Jamie Stidhamand Allied Health Instructor is VanessaWilson, RN.

Millsaps Career and Technology Center, Starkville, MS

Petal High School TeacherAppointed to Taskforce

The Mississippi Department of Educationhas been in the process of redesigningcareer and technical education courses tomeet national standards and industry cer-tifications. The redesign efforts are for thepurpose of preparing student success incollege or a workforce environment. As aresult, a task force has been formed to pro-vide direction and guidance for the sec-ondary STEM cluster. Brad Amacker,Information Technology Teacher at PetalHigh School, has been chosen to serve on

this task force because of his expertise and vision. Mr. Amacker, afifteen year veteran with the Petal School District, is NationalBoard Certified and holds numerous industry certifications.

Culinary Arts ClassLearns Ukrainian CuisineLiz Brock’s Culinary Arts class has enjoyed learn-ing more about Ukraine’s culture and food. Visitingexchange student, Anna Federova and her mothershared information about Spasa, a traditionalUkranian holiday. Mrs. Brock utilized Skype as asupplementary teaching tool to make these impor-tant cultural connections.

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Amory Vocational Center In National Competitions

National FCCLAConferencein Chicago, IL. Mrs.Shirley Moore (Family andConsumer Science Instructor)and Amber Simms (staterepresentative).

Mr. Jerry Larkin (TSA Advisor) at the TSANational Competition in Baltimore, MD, withTSA members. (L-R) Mr. Larkin, Zane Sawyer,Clay Todd, Brycen Cowley, Candice Walls,Wesley Haney, Joshua Pearson, JamieSundstrom, Mr. Wilson.

FBLA National Competition. (L-R)Matt Stanford, Sarah Nichols (StateTreasurer) and Beverley Fortenberry(Advisor).

As an Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) educator, Trey Gore, Hinds Community CollegeDigital Media Technology chairman, is currently the only one in Mississippi certified in allthree areas: Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Flash. Of his 31 students, whose home schools arein the Rankin County and Pearl school districts, 29 are ACA certified in Photoshop CS4, 13 areACA certified in Dreamweaver CS4 and five are ACA certified in Flash CS4.“These certifica-tions have already opened some doors for my students not only in employment opportunitiesbut also in higher education,” Gore said. “This is the only classroom in the state that I am awareof that currently provides this opportunity to its students at no cost to them.” Gore is also certi-fied in and teaches Final Cut Pro, a post-production video-editing software package created byApple that allows students to broaden their portfolios in the field of Digital Media Technology.“Enrollment in the program for next year has almost doubled because of the high demand forqualified students in these professional fields,” he said.

Trey Gore

As director of Hinds Community College'sPearl/Rankin County Career & TechnicalCenter, Sherry D. Franklin oversees 15 pro-grams and has a long list of responsibilities.

This educator participated in an internationalstudy group to Bridgewater College in Englandwith Hinds Community College to study theeducational system there. Other career high-lights were initiating the pilot of the GameDesign and Development Technology programat the Pearl/Rankin Career and Technical

Center, implementing nine career pathway pro-grams, receiving the 2007 Tech Prep ExemplarySite in conjunction with Northwest RankinHigh School by the Mississippi ManufacturersAssociation and serving as a member of thePearl School District Strategic Committee.

Through the center, Franklin offers services toenhance the business community to includeprofessional development, digital media andany other contribution that is available to meetbusiness' needs.

Sherry Franklin 50 Leading Business Women named by the Mississippi Business Journal

Sherry Franklin

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Choctaw County Career and Technology CenterAwaded Robotics and Engineering Grant

During the 2009-2010 school year,Choctaw County Career andTechnology Center (CCCTC) was oneof six schools to be awarded a grant toimplement the Robotics andEngineering program. The center con-verted the Technology Applicationsclass to this exciting new program. Theprogram instructor, Sunja Douglas, waschosen to attend special training withIntelitek at their headquarters inManchester, New Hampshire. Whilethere she spent a week in training learn-ing to utilize the software that is a partof this new program. As this programcontinues to be implemented through-out the state, Mrs. Douglas will be train-ing other instructors to use theLearnMate software that is the instruc-tional utility which serves as the drivingforce for the engineering program.

The CCCTC Robotics and Engineeringstudents are currently preparing for the2010 Mississippi BEST (Boosting

Engineering, Science, and Technology)Robotics competition at MississippiState University on November 5-6,2010. Mississippi BEST is a group ofengineers, teachers, parents, and indus-try technologists in Mississippi that hasjoined together to inspire and motivatestudents towards studies and careers inengineering, science, and technologythrough a sports-like technology con-test. BEST Robotics is a volunteer-based organization, sponsored by theBagley College of Engineering Department

of Outreach at Mississippi State University.

The CCCTC team will be assisted by asmall group of technology coachesfrom local industry for a six-week peri-od to design and build a radio-con-trolled machine to accomplish a definedtask. The technology contest isdesigned to simulate a real-world busi-ness and engineering environment. Theteams gathered at game kickoff day,September 25, 2010, to be shown theplaying field, and were given the timeperiod, the resources/materials, and thespecifications for the contest.

The twelve member team has begun toassemble a robot using raw materialsthey received on kick off day. The teamhas brainstormed to design and create aremote controlled robot that can com-plete a quality controlled task on gameday at the BEST competition.

Best of luck to the Choctaw Roboticsand Engineering team!

Wayne Robinson, Courtney Blaine, Xavier Woodard, J.T. Tennyson

First Year Agricultural Power Machinery Operations StudentsLearn about Cutting with an Oxy-Acetylene Torch

The first year students in Gary Gardner’s Agricultural Power Machinery class are learning about the oxy-acetylene cut-ting torch. Using proper safety procedures, students check the regulator gauges, light and adjust the torch flame as theyprepare for metal cutting. When the flame heats the metal to molten stage, oxygen blows the molten metal out of thecut. Students learn that when the torch is held at the proper height and angle to the metal the sparks given off shouldbe directed downward. For some students, this process is somewhat intimidating at first but

they quickly get the hang of it after getting the torch intheir hands and making a successful cut.

Gary Gardner instructs the students on the proper cutting procedures.

Kristen Roland demonstrates hercutting skills. She is one of the

three female students taking the class this school year.

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