Each February, students, educators and administrators raise awareness of career and technical education (CTE) by celebrating Career and Technical Education Month® .
So how can you celebrate CTE Month and show support for DECA and your school’s program? These are the six best ways you can help celebrate and advocate for support of CTE:
- Share the facts about DECA and CTE
- Spread the word on social media
- Increase student involvement and interest in DECA
- Invite others to see your DECA chapter in action
- Connect with your elected officials
- Make CTE Month official in your city
1. Share the facts about DECA and CTE
Knowing the facts about DECA and CTE — and sharing those facts — is a key part of celebrating CTE Month. Sharing relevant information, along with your personal connection to CTE, will help you communicate the impact of organizations like DECA.
2. Spread the word on social media
Spreading the word about CTE Month on social media is one of the easiest ways to raise awareness. You can celebrate #CTEMonth by sharing DECA facts, benefits of your school’s CTE programs, success stories from your chapter and even your personal DECA story.
3. Increase student involvement and interest in DECA
It’s never too late to grow your chapter or too early to generate interest for next year. Encourage potential members to join by sharing the benefits of DECA with them. Don’t forget about middle school students who will soon be thinking about which CTE-related classes to sign up for next fall. The more your fellow students are invested, the more of a positive impact you can have on your community!
4. Invite others to see your DECA chapter in action
A great way to showcase your school’s CTE program is to partner with other CTSOs to host a school visit. Visits can increase awareness of the importance of DECA and help others understand the opportunities that CTSOs provide for your school and community. While you can invite just about anyone, it’s most important to invite your school’s superintendent, school board members, members of your local business community and local and state elected officials.
5. Connect with your elected officials
Communicate with your city officials, mayor, members of Congress at the state and federal level and governor to inform them about the importance of CTE. Building strong relationships with elected officials and policymakers is important to ensure continued support for DECA and CTE. You can ask them to attend an event, invite them to join DECA’s Congressional Advisory Board (CAB) or express the importance of supporting CTE and Perkins legislation.
6 Make CTE Month official in your city
If you want to maximize support of CTE in your community, encourage your policymakers to proclaim February as CTE Month. Pushing for recognition of CTE Month shows your community that you and your local government have an interest in education. By getting CTE Month officially proclaimed in your city, you can introduce your entire community to the benefits and importance of DECA and CTE.
Start celebrating CTE Month by choosing one or more items on this list to start making a difference for CTE in your community. Find even more ideas here.
Want to know the best part? You can get recognized by DECA Inc. through the Advocacy Campaign.
Completing three school outreach activities, three public policymaker outreach activities and three community outreach activities during the month of February will get your chapter recognized. And your community will definitely know you are advocates of DECA and Career and Technical Education!
