From The Council President

It is time for an “Agriculture is Cool” Campaign…
Impressive leadership, sessions, professional development workshops and award winners! Numerous presentations and discussions about topics such as programs of study, articulation agreements, increasing college graduation rates, healthy kids campaigns, online and blended learning, STEM and the promotion of membership in our professional organizations such as NAAE and ACTE.

Last week's NAAE and ACTE conventions had all the components of excellent professional development for educators. These topics of the week are embodied in The Council's strategic plan for 2010-15. Many topics reinforce our need to focus on connecting more students to agricultural education; reinforce our need to ramp up our programs to meet changing national and global needs; reinforce the need to incorporate science, technology and math into all our programs; and the need to build awareness of global hunger into all we teach. More people, appropriately educated, are needed to solve the problems. 

It's time for an “Agriculture is Cool” campaign to send the message about the high wage, high skill and high demand careers in agriculture.

Nancy J. Trivette
Council President
nancy.trivette@ag.state.nj.us

From FFA

About Scholarships
Each year the National FFA Organization awards approximately $2 million in scholarships designed to fit the diversity of our applicants.

Scholarships are sponsored by businesses and individuals through the National FFA Foundation and are given for a wide variety of experiences, career goals and higher education plans. The selection process takes into account the whole student - FFA involvement, work experience, Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), community service, leadership skills and academics.
More than 1,000 scholarships available – just one application to complete!  Click here for details and a current list of 2009-2010 scholarship sponsors!

Attention Students - Apply Early! 
The 2010 Scholarship application is available online from November 15, 2009 to 5:00 p.m. EST February 15, 2010. (Required Signature Page must be mailed postmarked no later than February 22, 2010.)

Other FFA news
Watch FFA videos on this teacher-approved website.
Sign-up to receive FFA’s e-mail newsletters.

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From NAAE

2009-2010 NAAE Board of Directors
Please welcome the newly elected leadership of NAAE for 2009-2010.

President - Ray Nash, Mississippi
President-elect - Greg Curlin, Indiana
Region I Vice-President - Hugh Mooney, California
Region I Secretary - Erica Whitmore, Washington
Region II Vice-President - Kevin Stacy, Oklahoma
Region II Secretary - Gary Leger, New Mexico
Region III Vice-President - Craig McEnany, Iowa
Region III Secretary - Barb Lemmer, Iowa
Region IV Vice-President - Charlie Sappington, Illinois
Region IV Secretary - Archie Sauerheber, Indiana
Region V Vice-President - Farrah Johnson, Florida
Region V Secretary - Daryl Behel, Mississippi
Region VI Vice-President - Ken Couture, Connecticut
Region VI Secretary - Michael Harrington, Maryland

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From ACTE

ACTE Releases Brief Describing CTE Strategies to Improve Adolescent Literacy
A new Issue Brief by the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), "Career and Technical Education’s Role in Adolescent Literacy," explains how career and technical education (CTE) can increase adolescent literacy engagement and achievement. CTE teachers are integrating content-area reading and writing strategies and a number of enrichment activities to help students gain and apply higher-level literacy skills, which will help students prepare to enter postsecondary education, training opportunities and the global economy.

E-media
ACTE's electronic media include blogs by staff and members, forums and more. Create an account today to join the CTE discussion or listen to podcasts and watch webcasts for the best up-to-date information on CTE. Need help? Check out our tutorials.

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From USDE

Voting Begins on "I Am What I Learn" Video Contest
Since September 21, hundreds of students across the country have responded to the President's call to take greater responsibility for their education by creating videos explaining why education is important to their future. In less than two months, students submitted more than 600 video entries to the "I Am What I Learn" video contest, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education and YouTube. In their entries, students talked about their personal goals and the role education plays in meeting them. The submissions came from students with diverse economic, social and ethnic backgrounds, and the content ranged from music videos to short skits. The common theme in all of these videos is that education is the key to their success.

“We’re very excited about the tremendous participation and extraordinary creativity that our video contest has received, “U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said. “I want to thank these students for sharing their stories and for being leaders in spreading this important message.”

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Communications and Outreach has carefully reviewed the submissions and narrowed them down to 10 finalists based on use of creativity, strength and originality of content, and ability to inspire. These videos are now available on YouTube at www.youtube.com/lamwhatllearn.

Voting to determine the three winning videos begins November 16 and runs through December 4. The three finalists whose videos receive the most votes by December 4 will each win a $1,000 prize issued by the U.S. Department of Education.

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