A month-long celebration is well underway at Canadian Valley Technology Center’s three metro area campuses.
A statewide proclamation established February as Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month. The announcement serves as a reminder about affordable career preparation available at technology centers in health care, information technology, advanced manufacturing, renewable energy and more.
February also means exciting times for students who are invested into their respective Career Tech student organizations. National Business Professionals of America (BPA) Week coincides this week with National Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) Week on the heels of National SkillsUSA Week, which concluded this past week.
Students have already begun competing in regional student organization contests. Top placers qualify for statewide contests, and state winners qualify for national contests in late spring and early summer.
CV Tech also is celebrating its career counseling team during National School Counseling Week. Many counselors are currently visiting partner high schools to enroll students who have expressed an interest in attending classes at Canadian Valley next fall.
Technology centers across the state are governed by a local board of education but are also tied to the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education (ODCTE), which provides program and curriculum oversight and is responsible for accrediting tech centers.
ODCTE recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Film Education Institute of Oklahoma to provide training and curriculum to meet film industry employment demands in the state. CV Tech is among those who have developed film career training programs for students who want to work as film and television production professionals. The CareerTech Testing Center and the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety partnered in 2021 to offer Class D written driver’s license and motorcycle license tests through a network of test facilities, including CV Tech’s Chickasha and El Reno campuses.
ABOUT CAREER TECH
Oklahoma’s 29 technology centers provide 121 Career Tech programs to help students turn their passion into a paycheck. Last year, the Career Tech system served 5,670 companies with customized training through Business and Industry Services divisions statewide. Career Tech plays a vital role in advancing Oklahoma’s workforce and powering the state’s economy. A recent workforce study shows technology center grads add more than $3.5 billion to Oklahoma’s economy each year.
