A big player has arrived in Ohio to promote the benefits of shale energy.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said today that it is launching a media campaign in Ohio to show how oil and gas drilling can transform the economy, and act as a counterpoint to environmental advocates who have raised concerns about the drilling process.

“Our campaign is focused on advocacy and education,” said Christopher Guith, vice president for policy at the chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy.

He spoke at a Downtown news conference announcing the initiative. He declined to give specifics about how much money the national business organization is spending, only that it would be a “multimillion-dollar” effort.

The chamber plans to advertise on television, radio and print, and hold public events across the state.

Guith said the campaign will provide a pro-business perspective that goes beyond the advocacy by the oil and gas industry, and will show how shale energy can help Ohio manufacturing and other industries.

“It’s a tremendous, tremendous opportunity for our young people and young adults,” said Bill Bussey, superintendent of the Mid-East Career and Technology Centers, a job-training agency based in Zanesville. He was one of several business and community leaders who also spoke at the event today.

Click here to read the full article from The Columbus Dispatch.

 As a tribute to Dr. Byrl Shoemaker, the Byrl R. Shoemaker CTE Institute has been formed to provide the opportunity for all individuals involved with CTE to gain a broader knowledge and understanding of career-technical education, as well as develop personal and professional leadership characteristics that will benefit their schools/organizations and CTE in Ohio.

Applications are now being accepted from individuals interested in participating in this extended professional development opportunity.  The program will include 3-4 face-to-face meetings per year, a team project, and utilize distance learning/communication tools.  The kick-off meeting is Sept. 14-15 in Columbus, Ohio. 

Application deadline is August 17.  The online application and more information is accessible here.

Details on the Shoemaker CTE Institute can be found on the Ohio ACTE Website, but if you have any questions, please contact Christine Gardner. 

Byrl R. Shoemaker Institute Partners to Date:  Ohio ACTE, ODE Office of CTE, Ohio Association of City Career Technical Schools, Ohio Association of Career-Technical Superintendents

Advisory Committee Members:  Steve Bialorucki, Nancy Brown Steve Gratz, Mike McDaniel,  Harold Niehaus, Rebecca Parker,  Jim  Pinchak,  Jon Quatman, Mary Jane Stanchina

Thinking of a job after high school? Perhaps you should reconsider how to get there.

With average college debt per student topping $22,000, more students are turning to certificate or hands-on programs that get them into better paying jobs at a fraction of the price.

About 22 percent of post-secondary awards, including college degrees, are certificates, up from 6 percent in 1980, according to Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce.

On average a certificate will help someone earn $34,946 a year, 20 percent better than a high-school only graduate. But compared with an associates or bachelor's degree, its 17 percent or 36 percent lower, respectively. For many it's a stepping stone.

Click here to read the full article from the Deseret News.

Ohio Secondary Career-Technical Education Class of 2012 "Top 20" Honorees

 

Agricultural and Environmental Systems

Alina Schroeder,  Medina County Career Center

 

Arts and Communication

Kaitlyn Matthey, Warren County Career Center

Nilyshia Johnson,  Choffin Career and Technical Center

 

Business and Administrative Services

Joshua Jenkins, West Shore Career Technical District/Lakewood High School

 

Construction Technologies

Greg Kozel, Milford High School/Live Oaks Career Campus

Leanna Calton, Pickaway-Ross JVSD

 

Education and Training

Ashley Dickman, EHOVE Career Center

 

Engineering and Science Technologies

Mike Music, Sylvania Northview High School

 

Finance

India Erby, Eastland Career Center

 

Health Science

Alfreen Alvi, Penta Career Center

Jesse Shepherd, Great Oaks/Diamond Oaks Campus

 

Hospitality and Tourism

Jordan Cusumano, Lorain County JVSD

Ceslie Eblin, Tri-Rivers Career Center

 

Human Services (cosmetology)

Krista Frost, Miami Valley Career Technology Center

 

Information Technology

Brittany Dayton, Coshocton County Career Center

Jacob Comer, C-TEC

 

Law and Public Safety

Nick McCullough, Penta Career Center

 

Manufacturing Technologies

Andrew Melrose, Mid-East Career and Technology Centers

 

Marketing

Dominic DiCamillo, Washington Courthouse High School

 

Transportation Systems

Kris Chamberlin, Jackson-Milton High School

Marion's efforts to create a robotics hub are getting recognized as work continues toward building a training center at Tri-Rivers Career Center.

Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee used the proposed robotics training center as an example of education spurring job creation while he spoke to the Marion Rotary Club on Tuesday. He also toured RobotWorx where employees showed him two robots that will be donated to the center.

The center will be housed at Tri-Rivers but will be a collaboration between Tri-Rivers, Marion Technical College and The Ohio State University at Marion. Its focus will be on training area residents to work with industrial robotics and automation, considered a need by local industries for which company officials say they can't find enough skilled employees.

Gee spoke to Tri-Rivers Superintendent Chuck Speelman on Tuesday and complimented him on his work on the center.

Click here to read the full story from the Marion Star.

At the Warren County Career Center in Ohio, high school junior Kailee Cain is learning how to operate heavy equipment so that she has a heads up over the rest once she enters college to pursue an engineering degree.

"Construction is just as open to women as it is to men," she told ABC News. "I don't see anything difficult about it. It's kind of nice to be able to work around a bunch of guys. It makes me feel empowered."

Amber Eitniear, a mother of three, recently completed the program at the Warren County Center. She said that she trained to become a heavy equipment operator after hearing about the money being made in horizontal drilling and the job opportunities.

She said the program taught her every aspect of heavy equipment operations, site construction and how to dig ditches and basements.

"You name it, they teach it here," she said.

Click here to read the full ABC News story.

Bring back shop class.

So says Republican state Treasurer Josh Mandel, who in his campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown says it is “my mission right now to tell every school administrator they’ve got to put shop class back in high school.”

“I am sick and tired of young people in this country being told they need to get some four-year, liberal-arts degree in order to be successful,” Mandel said yesterday in a wide-ranging interview with The Dispatch. “The reality is, you can be a lot more successful and happy in life with a vocational degree.”

Click here to read the full article from the Columbus Dispatch.

Time magazine feature article published  on career-technical education provides a snapshot on the past and present of career-technical education.

This article was also posted on the Ohio ACTE Facebook page, along with accomplishments of CTE students...if you haven't visited the Ohio ACTE page, take a look:

http://www.facebook.com/OhioACTE

Pay attention in school and eat your Wheaties. Words to live by for JoJo Tayse, a state champion wrestler from Perry High School, who was able to recognize his dangerous irregular heartbeat thanks to his exercise science class.

Tayse, 17, takes Brian Sifferlin’s class in the mornings at Washington High School, then returns to Perry for the remainder of the day. What he learned may have saved his life.

Click here to read the full article.

Former Ohio superintendent of public instruction Deb Delisle has been confirmed by the US Senate as the nation’s new assistant secretary of education for elementary and secondary education.

She will work under US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at the US Department of Education and will report to U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Anthony W. “Tony” Miller, according to reports.

Delisle will be in charge of K-12 education in the U.S. Department of Education’s elementary and secondary office. She said she will oversee Title I and most other key K-12 programs.

She served as superintendent of Cleveland Heights-University Heights schools from 2003-2008.