CTE Month and HOSA Student

CTE Month and HOSA Student

HOSA students share at School Board opening

LHS and CRHS HOSA students share about recently competed very successfully at HOSA Florida Regionals.

February is a month we celebrate and honor a number of great things. It is Black History Month, School Counseling Week honoring our great counselors, and February is Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month! (CTE is sometimes referred to as Workforce education and in the ‘olden days’ vocation classes.)

Citrus Schools has been committed to CTE education. Many of you know it is a personal passion for me as well. Citrus Schools has magnet programs like the Academy of Computers at CHS and the Academy of Health Careers at CRHS, and each of our high schools has in-school academies like culinary, drafting, business, and more. We now offer over 150 separate CTE courses, covering approximately 63 industry certifications, that connect to 34 different Program of Study Pathways available to our high school students at one or more of our three high schools and through dual enrollment at Withlacoochee Technical College. We are also expanding four new Programs of Study for the new 2022-2023 school year.

I had opening exercises for our February school board meetings and as is my tradition I love to bring students from our schools in to share their talents and successes. At yesterday’s meeting, we have seven students from Crystal River High School and Lecanto High School share about their recent HOSA– Future Health Professionals competitions. A number of the students received top awards as individual and team, and some advanced to the State competitions later this winter.

One of the most in-demand programs of study pathways and in need careers in Citrus County and Florida are in the medical profession. We have over seven medical pathways available to high school students, and at two of our schools, we have local chapters of HOSA– Future Health Professionals (formerly known as Health Occupations Students of America). HOSA is the premier organization for student leaders pursuing careers in the healthcare industry. HOSA is a state and national organization that operates as an integral component of the health science education curriculum.  Through its association of state and local chapters, HOSA provides powerful instructional tools, recognition, leadership, networking, scholarships, and connections with the healthcare industry to thousands of members across Florida and the United States. Through the HOSA Competitive Events Program, members have the opportunity to showcase their health care and leadership skills in over 55 different events related to all aspects of the health care industry.  HOSA integrates into the Health Science Technology Education curriculum seamlessly to develop and recognize smart, dedicated, and passionate future health professionals.

Thank you to our students for sharing and their families, teachers, and staff for their support and encouragement of our students!

National School Counseling Week 2022

National School Counseling Week 2022

Honoring those that counsel our students’ academic life and future

This week is National School Counseling Week. The American School Counselor Association website explains that this week “highlights the tremendous impact school counselors can have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career.”

School Counselors are truly the most amazing people. The work they do is so broad and all-consuming. From elementary years, through middle school, and throughout high school, our School Counselors often will know their student’s needs as well as anyone. They are educators, counselors, students’-advocate, and much more.

Most cannot realize the vast amount of time they work on behalf of their students. There are never enough hours in the day for them to care for their students. Like so many educators they work late into the evenings nearly every workday, are at school early the next day, work over the weekends, come in weeks before the school year begins, and work weeks after the school year ends. Much of that well over their salaried day.

During these challenging times, School Counselors have been the front line of supporting the academic planning and schedules to meet our students’ many individual needs and situations.

As much as I thought I did, I do not think my wife and I fully appreciated my own student’s School Counselors until their senior year of high school. During the months ahead of graduation School Counselors are ensuring students are on track to graduation, finding alternative graduation options for some, helping students with college or career planning, helping with applications, verifying and re-verifying, sending out reports, letters, and transcripts.

I have had the honor of working with many School Counselors in different student situations. They are the most caring and compassionate and knowledgeable persons.

We honor and thank all the School Counselors in Citrus County Schools and beyond.

 

 

Productive time in Tally

Productive time in Tally

It was a productive time in Tallahassee last week meeting with our State Legislators and State Education leaders on education issues for our students, families, teachers, staff, and schools. So appreciative for their time to listen to our concerns and for working together to collaborate on improvements.

Florida School Board Association’s Board of Directors meeting coincided with FSBA’s Days in the Legislature. As President-Elect I presented during the meeting. Thank you to these committed school board representatives.

Literacy Week 2022

Literacy Week 2022

I was so excited to help kick off Literacy week as a special guest reader in Ms. Kristel Frati’s 2nd grade class at Citrus Springs Elementary School. These were an awesome group of kids. It was made extra special as today was the 100th Day of School and Ms. Frati and Ms. Wiggins celebrated it for their students by dressing for it! Citrus County has some of the best and coolest students and teachers!

School Choice Week

School Choice Week

Citrus Academies Application Time

This week is Florida School Choice Week. School Choice Week supports and honors students, parents, and families choosing the best individual academic environment for their students. In Florida and Citrus County, we have excellent options in Traditional public schools, Charter schools, Public magnet schools, Online public schools, Private schools, and many Home School options.

Choice Week also falls during the same time as our local high school academy application period when students and families can learn and apply to be part of one of five public and charter academies in our school district.

Jan. 25    6-7:30                 CRHS     (Cafeteria)

Jan. 26    6-7:30                 LHS        (CPA)

Jan. 27    6-7:30                 CHS       (Cafeteria)

8th graders and families will get an inside look into each of our five academic academies and even hear from students and teachers within each program.

APPLY TO ACADEMIES HERE: https://www.citrusschools.org/cms/one.aspx?portalid=737701&pageid=51335089

IMPORTANT – the application deadline is 𝗙𝗲𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟰𝘁𝗵! Feel free to apply either to just one or ALL academies!

Blessings Meeting

Blessings Meeting

“With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing to me to want to put a little bit of it back together.” – Medal of Honor recipient Desmond Doss

Another excellent Citrus County Blessings board of directors meeting. Blessings is currently serving nearly 2,000 students in public and private schools in Citrus County. Over 500 volunteers dedicate themselves to the work of Blessings. At today’s meeting, we had some excellent reports and information on the status and work of the organization. On the board of directors, we have student representatives from CRHS, CHS, LHS, and Seven River Christian School. These students presented information from their respective schools and provided insight into how we can continue to better serve the students.

U.S. Army Private First-Class Desmond T. Doss, receives the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Truman.

I was honored to be asked to share the meeting’s “Words of Wisdom” to open the meeting. This is an opportunity to share some inspirational words and stories ahead of the work of the board of directors. I shared the story of U.S. Army Private First-Class Desmond T. Doss, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient for his heroic actions during World War II. Doss distinguished himself in the Battle of Okinawa by saving 75 men carrying them individually to safety. Each man he carried, he would pray while running through the battlefield among the bullets and explosions, asking God, “…give me the strength to save just one more”.

Doss later said, “With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing to me to want to put a little bit of it back together.”

Doss was a devote Christian who wanted to serve his country during WWII but due to his faith, he didn’t want to hurt anyone. He was allowed to be a U.S. Army uniformed unarmed frontline combat medic. Doss suffered a left arm fracture from a sniper’s bullet while being carried back to Allied lines and at one point he had seventeen pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body after a failed attempt at kicking a grenade away from him and his men. Doss’s story was the subject of the 2016 Oscar-winning film Hacksaw Ridge.

I had the pleasure of meeting Doss as a youth as he was well known in the churches, I grew up in and would come to share his story. His story was understandably an inspiration to many.

Each day as we in our community work together for our kids, I hear in my heart Doss’s words and pray, “…give me(us) the strength to save just one more”.