2024-25 CTE-Perkins Office Hours
Every Wednesday 7:00am - 4:00 pm
Office hours start this Wednesday, August 21, 2024. One of our CTE Staff will be available on Zoom during office hours. You can hop on for help with Montana Career Pathways, Course Codes, Carl Perkins, Reserve Grant, Fall Data Collection, End of Year Data Collection, and more.
This is a great time to connect with our CTE Specialists- no appointment is needed- just click the link above!
The Office of Public Instruction’s Career, Technical, & Adult Education unit invites all new Montana Career & Technical Education (CTE) professionals to participate in a FREE hybrid professional learning experience.
Who benefits from the New CTE Professionals Hybrid Workshop?
- New to the CTE classroom or with five years or less of experience in Montana.
- Local administrators, counselors, and CTE or WBL coordinators
- Individuals who have participated in the past are also invited to participate again.
What are the benefits of attending the workshops?
- Discover leadership and professional growth opportunities
- The fundamentals of Career & Technical Education, federal and state funding programs, professional organizations, curriculum resources, program standards and guidelines,
- Marketing and advising Career & Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs),
- Advanced learning opportunities for CTE students through dual enrollment and work-based learning.
Both Perkins and State CTE/VoEd funding can be used to help cover costs associated with participating in the New CTE Professionals in-person Workshop at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center.
If your school district has not been approved, please get this completed as soon as possible. Please have this completed prior to September 10, 2024. Please review the Perkins Grant Checklist for all items that need to be corrected or updated- if you are not seeing the checklist make sure your pop-up blockers are turned off. If you need assistance reach out or join us on Wednesdays for Office hours.
Nine educators from across the state participated in the inaugural Woodworking Safety and Liability workshop held in Great Falls, MT.
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During the workshop, teachers explored methods to enhance safety in their classrooms and learned new techniques for instructing students in basic woodworking. Additionally, each participant had the opportunity to construct an Adirondack chair based on designs for an Adirondack bench.
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As you may have noticed there have not been any 2024-2025 Montana Career Pathway Approvals sent to schools or posted on our website currently. This is a result of a few factors, one being the data from Infinite Campus has been delayed in getting to our CTE Specialists to conduct their approval process and two we are looking to revamp the process to be more in alignment with current school year offerings. There will be more information and updates on this as we get through the approval process
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Montana ACTE provides professional development each year in various locations throughout the state. Professional Development provides the opportunity for continued learning, ensuring that each person has access to the knowledge and skills necessary for success as Career and Technical educators today, tomorrow, and in the future.
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Montana ACTE is committed to supporting and promoting ideas, methods, innovations, and curricula that help educators achieve excellence.
Keynote Speaker—Kent Julian
Cultivating Resilience in Yourself and Your Team
Success isn’t the result of everything going your way. On the contrary, true success is experienced by those who are able to turn their greatest adversities into their greatest advantages. To put it another way, in order to win in life, leadership, or business, you must learn to lead your life instead of letting life lead you. This keynote explores key tools for developing resiliency, overcoming tough challenges, and stepping into your best self!
Register Online Here!
Personal growth, career advancement, and numerous opportunities are all things that people learn and create. But finding an exciting path to reach these goals is difficult; so, Business Professionals of America is the solution. Business Professionals of America, or BPA, is the ideal place for anyone looking to build out a career in the dynamic world of business. By joining BPA, you receive access to a broad network that extends from local chapters to regional and national levels, as well as workshops offered by industry professionals that provide practical insights into a variety of areas.
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"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work." - Steve Jobs.
Imagine yourself coming into a world where learning meets real-life stories, in which friendships are created, skills are honed, and goals become a reality.
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That is what you can expect to achieve while you join BPA–an organization dedicated to nurturing talent across various fields such as finance, marketing, management information systems (MIS), entrepreneurship, digital communication technologies (DCT), accounting services operations, research events, and more. Additionally, BPA provides numerous opportunities for showcasing one’s abilities, whether it’s at your local chapter, regional, or national competitions/conferences–allowing you to stand out amongst your peers while gaining recognition for your talents. However, the opportunities that arise from BPA do not end here. BPA allows you to meet individuals with similar objectives and ambitions, develop long-term friendships, collaborate, form potential business alliances, and even receive mentorship!
Joining BPA may seem daunting, but it is an investment in yourself that will pay off in that long path that you are carving while being an amazing part of your life that will result in great work and many more chances. Beyond the potential for career growth, it is also about developing confidence, obtaining useful experiences, broadening perspectives and networks, and having fun along the way. So, let's have a look at BPA together today! Please contact the state officer team if you wish to begin your path in Business Professionals of America.
Grant Application Period
August 15th, 2024 - February 1st, 2025
Reviews will occur as applications are submitted until all money is awarded
- Foster innovation through the identification and promotion of promising and proven career and technical education programs, practices, and strategies, which may include programs, practices, and strategies that prepare individuals for nontraditional fields; or
- To create career awareness, recruit students to a CTE Secondary Program of Study or promote the development, implementation, and adoption of programs of study or career pathways aligned with state-identified high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand occupations or industries in the middle grades.
Eligibility
High School Awards: High school districts that receive less than $15,000 in Perkins funding Schools must have completed the Perkins Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) and E-Grant application for the 2024-2025 Grant cycle.
Middle School Awards: Middle School programs will need to apply through their high school district to submit the application. Grants of up to $5,000 each will be available to secondary Perkins-eligible school districts to support CTE work in the middle grades (5-8). Schools must have completed the Perkins Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) and E-Grant application for the 2024-2025 Grant cycle.
LEAs who have been in good standing with their local application funds for two years prior to the current application year. This includes adhering to grant application and reporting deadlines, submitting accurate data reports, and appropriate fiscal supporting documents, adherence to all Perkins V and Civil Rights monitoring.
For more information, please click here.
The National FFA Organization plays a large role in the lives of students across the State of Montana. This program first started in 1928 and has since spread across all 50 states and 5 territories. Chartered in 1930, the Montana Association has a membership of over 6500 students, representing 111 chapters. The FFA Motto is “Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve” and members practice this every day. Students have numerous opportunities to learn about potential careers, serve their communities, and develop skills that will last a lifetime. One special opportunity that took place recently was the Agriculture Commodity Tour. Students traveled by van over 2000 miles, visiting Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, stopping at various locations along the way. The eight members of the State FFA Officer Team as well as the 2nd Place Agronomy team from Belgrade hit the road on July 7th, led by State Advisor Mr. Jim Rose and Belgrade FFA Advisor Mr. Kyle Gavin.
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The first stop of the trip was at Columbia Grain in Clarkston, Washington, where the group took a very interesting tour of their facility. Members found it interesting to see the transport of grain on such a large scale. As agriculturalists, it is important for us to understand what happens to our grain after it is harvested.
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The tour at Columbia Grain gave us a unique perspective and new respect for what goes on behind the scenes.
According to Rose, “the best part of the trip is the opportunity for members to “see first-hand the magnitude of Montana agriculture on a global scale”. This trip provides unique opportunities for students to learn about the agriculture industry as well as potential careers. Very few people get the privilege to get a behind the scenes look at the many Ag businesses in the Pacific Northwest and watch Montana commodities being transported out of our state to feed people all over the world.
Perhaps the student’s most talked about stop was made at Shaver Transportation in Portland. This family-owned business is one of just a couple that operates barges and tugboats on the Columbia River System. Additionally, the group spent about 3 hours touring United Grain in Vancouver, WA.
Finally, the group visited a Cranberry Farming Operation, Ocean Spray Cranberry processing plant in Markham, WA, Bonneville Dam and Three Mile Canyon Farms which farms 93,000 acres and milks 36,000 head of cows twice a day. In addition to the agriculturally focused tours, the group also spent an afternoon at a beach in Oregon and hiked up to Multnomah Falls. For some, this was the first time seeing the ocean.
This experience was generously sponsored by Columbia Grain.
Pictured Left to Right:
Alexa Smieja from Belgrade, Grace Mosher – Reporter from Shepherd, Ryan Bal – Sentinel from Park City, Emma Lou Slivka – Secretary from Winifred, Sierra Mauland – Treasurer from Big Timber, Reagan Long – 1st V.P. from Shields Valley, Jordan Leach – President from Conrad, Rom Hiner – 2nd V.P. from Harlowton, Grace McPherson – Parliamentarian from Fairview, Kaylee Reid from Belgrade, and Ella Young from Belgrade.
Allow MSU’s robotics and gaming professor, Hunter Lloyd, to share his circuitous path to robotics with your students (for free!).
“How to Train Your Robot” is a hilarious presentation (on the side he’s a stand-up comedian—no joke!) with his two robots, Looney and Ocean, that is well suited to the whole school, and is adaptable to all grade levels. It isn’t strictly a STEM presentation, although it does check that box and could certainly be combined with a STEM day or career day event. His presentations can be customized to your schedule, but are roughly 50 minutes.
If you’re interested in hosting Hunter and his robots for a fun, free, engaging school assembly, please reach out to Keri Hallau, keri.hallau@montana.edu.
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- expands personalized career & technical education opportunities for middle and high school students;
- reduces out-of-pocket costs for students and families in support of a students post-secondary success;
- empowers students to actively engage in forming post-secondary success that aligns with their individual interests, passions, strengths, needs, and culture; and
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- authorizes elected school boards to use advanced opportunity aid to invest in Montana students by supporting individualized pathways for career and post-secondary.
The submission window for FY 2026 new applications and annual reports will open Monday, December 2, 2024, at 8am.
For questions, please contact:
OPI CTE Unit General Questions
Shannon Boswell, Career Technical and Adult Education Director
Eric Tilleman, Agriculture Education Specialist
Jamie Corley, Health Sciences Education Specialist
Kaitlin Trutzel, Industrial Technology Education Specialist
Vacant, Business Education Specialist
Gayla Randel, Family & Consumer Sciences Education Specialist
The OPI is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation, require an alternate format, or have questions concerning accessibility, contact the OPI ADA Coordinator, 406-444-3161, opiada@mt.gov, Relay Service: 711.
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