Submitted by Lois Lamer. Article by Mark Lineberger, The Camp Verde Journal.

There are myriad careers out there that could appeal to a high school student.

Lois Lamer wants to make sure that students in the Verde Valley have the tools and resources thy need to be successful when it comes to those careers and life in general by helping to make sure they get the exposure and hands on experience they need.

As superintendent of the Valley Academy for Career and Technology Education, Lamer helps oversee a program that provides opportunities for students at places like Camp Verde, Mingus Union and Sedona Red Rock high Schools in fields ranging from agriscience and graphic communications to automotive tech and accounting.

She’s clearly got a passion for the work. “It’s what I do,” Lamer said. “It’s what I’ve always done.”

Lamer has served as superintendent for the program for a year, but she has worked within it for the past 12′years. It’s been her line of work since the 1980s throughout different Arizona locales, including Page and Window Rock.

Lamer herself went through a similar program when she was a student, coming up through courses in business education. She said there was a need for these types of programs, especially in communities like those in the Verde Valley.

“It’s a very traditionally framed community,” Lamer said. “There’s a lot of blue-collar employment and a lot of hands-on work.”

Lamer said she absolutely didn’t want her characterization to sound negative. The work she speaks of is often absolutely critical to keeping our world functioning.

From the area’s roots in fields like agriculture, mining and ranching, new fields have sprung up in areas like computer information technology to modem techniques of employing fire science.

“It’s practical,” Lamer said. “We don’t have courses in vortex management.” There are skills, however, like welding and woodworking that can easily translate into the field of visual arts.

While not everyone has to go to college, Lamer said the program provides vital tools and experience that can serve a student well if they do go on to continue their secondary education, something she says is certainly a worthwhile goal.

Currently, Lamer said the programs serve anywhere from around 2,000 to 2,500 students across the Verde Valley. The Cottonwood resident came to the Verde Valley nearly 20 years ago, when her husband, Marv, took a job as superintendent of Mingus Union High School. Lamer’s husband also worked for years in the job she now holds.

A lot of that job involves looking after finances and keeping up with attendance and staff. There’s also the sometimes headache-inducing work of trying to keep track of what’s going on with legislation on both the federal and state level.

It’s not unusual for the rules coming out of those two levels of government to conflict, Lamer said. Lamer said a lot of programs like the one. she oversees, particularly in rural areas, have had to get used “to doing more with less.”

Lawmakers aside, in the end it’s all about preparing the students for the “real world,” so to speak. Lamer said she’s not planning on getting out of the business anytime soon. “I’ll stay as ltmg as they’ll have me,” Lamer said. “It’s my life’s work.”

Submitted by Dennis Fiscus.

Arizona FCCLA Spring Leadership Conference took place on March 29-31 for the first time at the Westin La Paloma Resort and Hotel in Tucson, AZ. Over 800 students, teachers, business members and community leaders from all across Arizona attended. Of the students who competed there were “189 Gold Medal Winners,” “289 Silver Medal Winners” and “267 Bronze Medal Winners.” This year’s event increased in size by 20 chapters.

Amongst the March 29-31 medal winners were AZ FCCLA Culinary Competitors. This year’s culinary event was hosted at three different locations: Pima JTED at Marana, Pima JTED at Santa Rita and The Art Institute where 47 teams competed from across the state. The Final top ten winners battled against each other on Friday to become the Top Competitor to be eligible to compete nationally. This year’s National Competitor for Culinary Arts is Canyon Del Oro High School of Tucson.

Workshops hosted by Tri-Leadership, Inc. were provided for students to participate in Leadership activities during the duration of the Conference between events. EATiquette introduced dining etiquette while Enrique Feldman taught students how to use rhythm with Early Childhood children, just to name a few.

In attendance was the Arizona Department of Education’s Deputy Associate Superintendent Mark Hamilton on behalf of Superintendent John Huppenthal. Mr. Hamilton also toured the events.

Chapter members socialized amongst each other at the luau dinner where member and advisors competed against each other in games and events. AZ FCCLA also hosted its first annual Gala dinner/dance where the dance team Footklan lead the music and performed their dance show.

There will be 130 students who will go on to represent Arizona at the FCCLA National Leadership Conference taking place July 7-12, 2012 in sunny Orlando, Florida. While competing in FCCLA’s national awards program, the students will compete for top honors in their competition against state representatives from across the United States and Puerto Rico.

The competition is part of a national competitive events program sponsored annually by FCCLA, a professional association for students pursuing careers in Early Childhood Professions, Hospitality Management, Fashion Design and Merchandising, Interior Design and Culinary Arts. Individual and local chapter teams compete in 40 different events representing a range of business, career and leadership development activities.

The winners of these challenging and prestigious awards are selected from Arizona FCCLA’s 4,400 members and by winning these competitions some have qualified for the national awards program. The delegates at this year’s State annual meeting elected the 2012-2013 FCCLA State Officer team. This year’s state theme, “Learn It, Live It, Be It!” reflects the traditions and challenges that FCCLA offers students to prepare for family life, work life and careers in family and consumer sciences by providing opportunities to develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors that are needed to be successful in life.

Submitted by Dennis Fiscus.

On April 1, 2012 over 1400 students from around the state arrived in Tucson for the 7th AzHOSA Spring Leadership Conference. The conference was held at the Westin La Paloma Resort and hosted by the 2011-2012 AzHOSA State Officers. Students from Career and Technical Education Programs in Nursing Services, Sports Medicine, and Therapeutic Massage, Pharmacy Technician, Medical Assisting and Biomedical Technology were ready to showcase their knowledge and skills and to participate in the Medical leadership Village, attend educational sessions and network with exhibitors.

The high energy opening sessions recognized the advisors that have been leaders in their schools for 5 Years. Mr. Elliott Hibbs, Deputy Superintendent brought greeting on behalf of the Department of Education and stayed to observe several competitions. Sean Sheffer, National HOSA President and Tayla Brown, National Region I VP brought greetings on behalf of of the National Executive Council. The conference included over 58 competitive and recognition events. The leadership events gave members the opportunity to improve skills such as interviewing for a job, preparing and giving a speech and debating biomedical issues. The high tech events like Biotechnology, Nursing Assisting, Medical Assisting, Forensic Medicine and Pathophysiology allow student to showcase the skills they learn in their CTE programs. All this was accomplished with the support of over 100 healthcare professionals that serve as judges and presenters.

At the Annual Business meeting, the AzHOSA Association Bylaws were amended and the new 2012-2013 AzHOSA State Officers were elected. These officers will attend training in April and June and host the Arizona Delegation at the 2012 National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida.

At the closing of the contests, an exciting awards session at in the Arizona Ballroom recognized the top five winners in each event. The state winners placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd are eligible to compete at the 2012 National HOSA Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Submitted by Cara Rene.

Pueblo Magnet High School science teacher Dr. Andrew Lettes received the Ron Mardigian Memorial Biotechnology Explorer Award, as part of the National Science Teachers Association (NTSA) 2012 Teacher Awards Program.

Lettes has brought biotechnology into the classroom for over ten of his eighteen years as a teacher. When TUSD’s Career and Technical Education Program decided to offer a bioscience curriculum, Lettes was one of the first teachers onboard. At the time, he was teaching an AP Biology class but only six students were enrolled. He wanted to go beyond traditional topics to get more students engaged in science, particularly those students who might not see themselves as “scientists.”

“I noticed that the students who were enthusiastic about heart dissections were even more enthusiastic about DNA fingerprinting,” Lettes recalls. “Biotechnology jobs are on the rise in Tucson and I want to prepare my students for those jobs; so I developed a Biotechnology curriculum.”

The Biotechnology Explorer Award recognizes teachers who have made biotechnology learning accessible to students and Lettes’ curriculum has done just that. Pueblo serves a predominantly low-income Hispanic population – a population that is typically underrepresented in science, engineering, and technology fields.

“This program opens up doors to careers in science that students didn’t realize had been closed to them,” Lettes noted. “Students that were not interested in upper level science classes before are now lining up to take Biotechnology.”

There are currently 105 students enrolled in the program with 140 interested in enrolling next year.

Dr. Lettes’ former students have gone on to pursue degrees in neuroscience, molecular biology, and science education. Students who have gone on to pursue degrees in other areas have said that Lettes’ class provided them with a strong foundation for their college science course requirements, and for the overall expectation of college studies.

As the recipient of the Biotechnology Explorer Award, Lettes received a $250 monetary gift, a $500 certificate for Bio-Rad products for his classroom, and a trip to attend the NSTA National Conference on Science Education in Indianapolis last month. Interesting tidbit: While at the conference, Lettes had the opportunity, among other things, to meet and talk science with television actress Mayim Bialik of The Big Bang Theory, who holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience both on TV and in real life. Bialik and Lettes both received their doctorates from UCLA.

For more information on Career and Technical Education Programs offered in TUSD, visit tusd1.org/career.

Submitted by Dennis Fiscus.

HOSA is pleased to announce, along with the Office of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps (OCVMRC) in the Office of the Surgeon General, the 2012 HOSA-OSG Interns.

The number of applicants doubled from 2011 and the caliber was of the highest standard making the final selection extremely difficult for the committee in the OCVMRC to narrow the interns to 2 student members and 1 advisor/alumni for each session. You will be pleased to learn that the selection committee made the decision to increase the number of interns for each session to 3 student members and 2 advisors/alumni. We are extremely pleased that 9 states submitted applications.

The 2012 HOSA/OSG Interns:

July 16-20, 2012

• Student: Hayley Owen, Arizona
• Student: Bianca Patel, North Carolina
• Student: Miranda Terrell, Nevada
• Advisor: Nacua Brroke, Hawaii
• Advisor: Cynthia Soraoka, California

August 13-17, 2012

• Student: Brittney Bradford, Louisiana
• Student: Hugo Quezada, Texas
• Student: Stephanie Tsai, Texas
• Advisor: Paula Holstein, West Virginia
• Advisor: Patricia Preston, Kentucky

Hayley Owen, from Kingman High School, is the 2012-2013 Arizona HOSA President and recently took 1st place in Epidemiology at the Arizona HOSA Spring Leadership Conference.  Congratulations Hayley!

About the HOSA/OSG Internship

The HOSA Internship in the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General is available to HOSA members and advisors who want an opportunity to interact with leading professionals within the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (USPHS CC).

For a short period of time, interns are able to experience first-hand the mission of the OSG and Office responsibilities carried out by USPHS CC’s who are set out to protect and promote a healthy nation. HOSA Interns will shadow OSG staff and take on a project that directly benefits the the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Following the internship, participants will have the opportunity to present their experience during an educational symposium at the 2012 HOSA National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, CA and other identified venues where HOSA students, advisors, and alumni may convene. The HOSA Internship is a unique opportunity to make a valuable contribution to the HHS, OSG, and the USPHS CC in a short period of time.

The 2012 HOSA Internship is designed to afford HOSA members the opportunity to enhance their knowledge, refine professional capabilities and increase their awareness of the infrastructure, operations and responsibilities of the OSG and USPHS CC.

This year ACTEAZ is holding elections for the positions of:

• President Elect
• Treasurer

Current ACTEAZ members will receive an online ballot and voting will run from April 30th to May 18th.  Below is the write-up information received from all candidates.  We ask you to review the information and participate in voting for your chosen candidate.

Submitted by Tiffani Nichols.

On May 1, the East Valley Institute of Technology’s radio station, The Goldmine, will expand its coverage to include the entire Phoenix metro area, Scottsdale and the West Valley thanks to a second signal high atop South Mountain. The original signal, 90.7 FM, will continue to cover the East Valley while the new signal, 92.7 FM, will reach an expanded audience to the west and north.

“With the addition of the second signal, The Goldmine will become the most powerful high school station in the nation with a potential audience reach of 2.5 million in the 12 to 49 demographic” said Steve Grosz, general manager of The Goldmine and head instructor.

Both signals will carry the same programming featuring commercial-free hit music that is also available worldwide via Smartphone applications and the internet at http://www.goldmineradio.com/.

The Goldmine is unique in its ability to generate sponsorships to support EVIT’s Broadcasting/Audio Production and Media Marketing (BAMM) program with current clients such as Thorobred Chevrolet, Mesa Golfland/Sun Splash, Tennison Financial, Dutch Bros Coffee and more than a dozen others including contracts from major brands from across the Valley being finalized.

“Hands-on, occupation-specific training is at the core of every EVIT program. BAMM students are not only being trained in broadcasting and audio-related fields but developing valuable marketing skills that can be applied in public relations, advertising and mass media” said Dr. Sally Downey, EVIT superintendent.

The launch of 92.7 FM will also bring the return of Bruce Kelly, the Valley’s morning ratings leader for more than 15 years. Bruce Kelly and Company will air from 6 to 9 a.m. on weekdays and promises his one-of-a-kind, predictable unpredictability, with local and national celebrity interviews and plenty of commercial-free hit music.

Since leaving the Valley, Kelly was an original architect of XM Satellite Radio programming, managed Bob Marley’s legendary band The Wailers and spent two years in Fargo, ND as Vice President of a privately-owned radio group. He returned to the Valley as operations manager of The Goldmine in October 2011.

Also joining The Goldmine staff as consultant and executive morning show producer is Diane Bonilla, a Peabody award-winning veteran of Valley media for 20+ years at stations including KTAR and KFYI.

Submitted by Betsy Parker.

The Little Knights Preschool will be hosting its 6th Annual Little Knights Art Show on Wednesday, May 2nd at 1:15pm.  This will take place at the Little Knights Hallway (preschool hallway) on the Lake Havasu High School campus.  Be sure to stop by and show your support for Early Childhood Education and enjoy the artwork of the preschool students.

The Little Knights Preschool is a state licensed preschool under the directorship of Marie Hendry. For more information visit their website.

Submitted by Betsy Parker. Article by Jackie Leatherman, Today’s News-Hearld.

Lake Havasu High School’s fashion students will once again debut their creative wardrobes Thursday evening, with a few changes to the annual program.

For the past two years, the school’s advanced fashion students worked in teams, created a theme under which to design up to seven garments, then found models to wear their lines.

But this year, the show will feature beginning and advanced students who worked separately to make clothes for themselves, which they also will model themselves. Seventy outfits will be showcased.

The free fashion show begins at 6:30 p.m. at Lake Havasu High School’s Performing Arts Center at 2675 S. Palo Verde Blvd. The students are asking for donations to help fund their annual fall trip to Phoenix Fashion Week. For the past two years, the students have been part of the Lake Havasu Fashion Week, which featured local businesses and out-of-city designers, organized by a Main Street merchant.

“This year we are doing (the show) a little different,” said LHHS Fashion teacher Deb Strother. “Because they are making garments for themselves, the creativity level has gone through the roof. We have some pretty spectacular (garments this show).”

LHHS senior Rebecca Anderson is the only student who designed a line with team members in 2011 and is now working on her own.

She said working with a team developed needed skills, but she preferred working on her own, using her own designs. For the show, Anderson made a “vintage” outfit, a business suit and her prom dress.

“I think it’s a great way to support these girls (by attending the show),” she said. “Especially now a days when a lot of girls have self-esteem issues and now we are making them go out there and present not only themselves, but a garment that they made. I think if the community (was there supporting), then maybe girls in high school wouldn’t have as many self-confidence issues knowing they could walk on stage and the whole community is right there backing them up, saying ‘You are doing a great job. You are doing something awesome. You are making beautiful garments.’”

Junior Viviana Sandez is showing her clothes for the first time this year.

“I’m kind of nervous,” she said. “(It’s) my first time and I’m just shy.”

But Senior Shyla Perkins said she was “excited” for her first appearance in the fashion show.

“When you put so much time and effort into something and you show it off, it’s an amazing feeling,” she said. “It’s just exciting.”

Submitted by Karen Lesher.

N.A.T.I.V.E. District is holding its Grand Opening for Phase One of its new Central Campus facility located in Kayenta AZ, on April 26, 2012. A program will include Margaret Yazzie, Governing Board President; Ron Lee, Native Policy Group; and the Honorable Jonathan Hale, Navajo Nation Council Delegate and Health, Education/ Human Services Committee Chair. Ted Goodluck, CTE Director from Sanders USD, will be the Emcee for the event. About 200-300 are expected to attend.

The N.A.T.I.V.E. District Central Campus has focused on building an energy efficient facility, with solar parking lot lights, and 140 solar panels to be installed on Building B for supplemental electricity. Alternative energy and renewable energy career training will be offered at the site beginning in August. N.A.T.I.V.E. District Central Campus was recognized as the first building in the United States to be built meeting the guidelines of the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) and will be receiving a plaque commemorating the achievement.

Other CTE programs to be offered through the Central Program facility include Hospitality, Multimedia Technologies, Graphic Communications, Health Services, and Electrical and Power Transmission Technologies.

Frankie J. Gilmore is the CTE Coordinator and Ronlye Tsosie is the school Principal.