President's Perspective

BUILDING ARKANSAS’S FUTURE WORKFORCE

Brian Kirkendoll, AAEA Board President

Building Arkansas‘s Future Workforce couldn’t be a more timely or important theme for this summer’s AAEA conference. Arkansas CTE will be on the forefront of new graduation pathways and will be critical in planning curriculum in the very near future. CTE is one of the most empowering areas that we are teaching in education today. It aides us in preparing our students to enter the workforce. Moreover, numerous certification areas emerge every year.

There are several opportunities to actively contribute to Arkansas CTE. One of the ways you can contribute is to join the Arkansas Association for Career and Technical Education Administrators (AACTEA). AACTEA offers many conferences and workshops to prepare educators and administrators in the latest world of career technical education throughout our state. In addition, they provide many opportunities for advocacy and networking. I will also add, the publication they send out to all their members is always informative and insightful.

Please go ahead and register for the summer conference if you haven’t already done so. This summer conference will allow many opportunities to network and discuss our current challenges and opportunities in our state’s career and technical education. I always take a lot away from every summer conference I attend, but I believe that this summer conference in particular will have more relevant and pertinent information than perhaps others of the past. This is especially true with the current LEARNS Act that we will be transitioning into over the next couple of years. I hope that everyone had a spring break that was restful and rejuvenating. Building Arkansas’s Future Workforce kicks off on July 24th and you can register now on theaaea.org.