Recap: The Life Ready Student!!
The 2019 Mid-Year Conference, “The Life Ready Student”, was held at the Academies of Loudon in Loudon County. We had 120 attendees, following along the same numbers as last year with a healthy mix of educators, administrators, facilities resources, designers and architects. As a committee it has been our goal to support a true collaboration of all that touch our students’ space and place and to learn from and with one another!
Our day started with a presentation from Chris Terrill, the Executive Director of Crosstown High in Memphis, TN. Chris highlighted the challenging environment he and his staff have worked through and continue to work through within a very unique urban environment collaborating with several local businesses sharing many common areas and taking advantage of the opportunities of those relationships. The revitalization of the Concourse has proven to be a true community center and speaks to the ever-changing educational model we all face helping students realize their place in a community and with a support system in place.
Everyone who attended went through 4 learning opportunities by taking a tour of the facility, listening to Mr. Wilcox with the DOE on the emerging changes in CTE for Virginia, learning about the Makers Space and the high level tools and resources available with Josh Ajima, and investigating many ways to engage your local community and business for a successful CTE school from Kim Yeager and Jennifer Chang. The building and program at The Academies demonstrated a robust, diverse program that is beyond the typical CTE school in our region by merging and sharing common collaborative spaces amongst what has been traditionally ‘separate-wings-for-separate-programs’, making it highly active by allowing young students to challenge themselves and look to solve problems together.
Presentations available for download:
Rethink High School: Using Space to Radically Impact Teaching and Learning by Chris Terrill
Come and visit the new Academies of Loudoun High School in Loudoun County, VA! Learn how to support student health and well-being in the development of the career minded, Life Ready Individual!
The conference is free... but space is limited!
The Life Ready Student!!
Who should attend?
- Teachers and Instructional Specialists
- Educational Leaders
- School Facilities Planners and Managers
- FF&E Purchasing Agents
- Educational Planners
- Architects & Interior Designers
Learn about how important it is to find a sense of self and community, the future of CTE, see state of the art equipment and spaces to support a robust program!
- Are you interested in planning and developing highly active,
interdisciplinary and interconnected learning environments that
empower young minds to challenge norms, think differently, and
seek to solve the tough problems facing their generation today?
- Are you looking for strategies to combat the intense pressure
that most high school students are facing to succeed in a college-bound
track?
- Are you interested in learning how you can engage the
community and businesses to support your educational
programs?
- Hear the VA DoE Department Chair for CTE share his vision for
the future of CTE in VA.
- See and test-drive state-of-the-art CTE equipment!!
We would like to especially encourage
instructional teams consisting of both teachers
and educational leadership to attend as small
groups of 3 to 4 persons. Your attendance and
participation at the conference will qualify
your school division to be eligible for a drawing
to win a 3D printer for your school, a Makers
Table/stools, a set of mobile tables and mobile
stools at the conference.