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February is Career and Technical Education Month, according to the Association for Career & Technical Education. In observance of this month, the Lanett City Board of Education invited Isabella Mitchell, the family and consumer sciences teacher at Lanett High School, to speak about career and technical education at Lanett High School.

“I’m here with you today on behalf of our Career Tech Department to speak to you briefly about CTE Month and what we are doing to recognize this month,” she said.

Students can participate in an essay contest in which they write 1,000 word essays in response to the prompt, “How has taking a CTE course impacted you?” Mitchell said. The winner will get an iPad or AirPods.

“A career tech advisory team celebration meeting is scheduled to be held later this month,” she said. “CTE students have been highlighting CTE facts every morning during the announcements. Today’s CTE fact of the day was the graduation rate for CTE concentrators is about 95 percent, approximately 10 percentage points higher than the national average. Ms. Carlisle is reaching out to former CTE students and collecting video clips about how CTE classes that they took here at Lanett have impacted them and the lives that they’re living right now. This video will be uploaded to the Facebook page.”

Mitchell said she has led a weekly CTE trivia scavenger hunt on Schoology. The students who get all the answers correct will be entered into a drawing for a prize and receive a dress-down day.

“Just to highlight a few things that CTE and our department has to offer here at Lanett, we have three CTSOs or Career and Technical Student Organizations that students can join,” she said. “These organizations include FBLA, which is Future Business Leaders of America, FCCLA, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America and JROTC. CTSOs teach students essential soft skills and technical skills to get them ready for the world of work that they will be entering into.”

Another way Lanett High School is getting students ready for the workforce is credentialing, she said.

“Many students enter jobs where their credentials increase their opportunities over their other counterparts,” Mitchell said. “If students are interested in a field that we do not have a program for here at Lanett, they have the option to attend classes at Inspire Academy in LaFayette. They have programs such as teaching and training, health science, agriculture and cosmetology, just to name a few.”

Mitchell said students can earn college credit through dual enrollment programs at Southern Union State Community College.

“In line with the mission and beliefs of Lanett City Schools, the career tech department at Lanett High School has made it our goal to graduate every student college or career ready,” she said.