Jubilee Academies CTE Department - CTSO General Information

What is a CTSO?

CTSOs are student-led organizations designed to provide students with opportunities to acquire and hone critical occupational skills, including public speaking and leadership. CTSO activities are co-curricular, not extra-curricular. Career preparation and practicum teachers are expected to integrate CTSO activities into classroom instruction.

Who is required to sponsor a chapter?

Sponsoring a CTSO chapter is required for all high school CTE teachers.

Texas Education Agency (TEA) & US Department of Education (USDE) Recognized Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs)

What do students gain from participating in CTSOs?

"People" skills
- - - A CTSO program helps students build life-long skills such as developing interpersonal relationships, teamwork, and setting and achieving goals.
Leadership skills
- - - Research has shown that membership in a CTSO fosters and develops positive leadership skills. CTSO members are more likely to take active roles in their community.
Experiential Learning
- - - Each CTSO utilizes a hands – on approach to learning – whether it be in a leadership training or a competitive event.
Responsibility
- - - CTSO members learn to take responsibility for their actions and to be accountable. CTSO members learn that for any organization to be successful, each member must do his or her part.
Self-Confidence
- - - By experiencing success - whether in a leadership role, or by speaking to business and industry, political leaders, or even through a competitive event – CTSO members gain a new sense of self-confidence in their skills and abilities.
Recognition
- - - Many young people have never had an opportunity to be recognized for their work or earned a single award. Through CTSO activities, young people are provided with a wide range of activities that allow them to showcase their skills and talents in an arena where they can be recognized by business and industry professionals.
Positive Atmosphere
- - - Young people today come from a variety of backgrounds; not all of which are desirable or healthy. In many cases, a CTSO may be the only nurturing and positive environment the young person will experience.
Sense of Community and Volunteerism
- - - Community improvement and development is a hallmark characteristic of each and every CTSO. Through participation in these activities, members learn they are part of a larger community.
Improved Communication and Decision Making
- - - Public speaking and participation in meetings is an integral part of each CTSO program. In these activities students learn to think on their feet and make quick decisions.
New Friends and a Cultivated Respect for Others
- - - There is no doubt that part of a CTSO is social development and awareness; many life-long friendships have developed through CTSO activities.
Career Awareness
- - - By participating in CTSO activities, members become aware of new career opportunities that they may have not even known existed prior to their becoming involved with a CTE organization.
Opportunities to Earn Scholarships
- - - Through participation in CTSO activities, members often are awarded scholarships and other prizes for their efforts.
A Sense of Belonging
- - - It is human nature to want to be accepted , and young people are acutely aware of this – they want to belong, to fit in. CTSOs provide a positive alternative to other groups, such as gangs.
Opportunities to Travel
- - - Many young people, even in this day and age, go on their first real overnight trip away from home while participating in CTSO activities. In some cases, there may even be opportunities for international travel!
Reinforced Workplace Basics
- - - Learning to Learn
      - CTSOs encourage student-led learning and experimentation requiring members to absorb, process and apply new information quickly and effectively. The more capable young people are of learning on their own, the greater their value to an employer.
    - Reading, Writing, and Computation
      - For members, operating student – led CTSO chapters , participating in financial leadership activities and being involved in state and national conferences/ competitive events , CTSO programs provide an assortment of opportunities to practice and refine reading, writing and computational skills.
    - Effective Communication
      - CTSOs encourage the refinement of speaking, listening and feedback skills.
    - Creative Thinking and Problem Solving
      - Through chapter management activities, CTSO members practice and refine their problem – solving skills in groups. By learning to work effectively in a CTSO chapter, members, when employees, are better able to solve productivity problems.
    - Personal Management
      - CTSOs improve personal management skills, including: heightened self – esteem; goal – setting; goal achievement; and career direction, education and training analysis. CTSOs provide situations to practice and refine skills that can be applied successfully in the workplace to resolve problems and foster innovation.
    - Group Effectiveness
      - Employment statistics show that the “ team approach ” results in higher productivity, product quality and increased quality of work life. For this reason CTSOs provide “group – oriented” activities to develop and refine interpersonal, negotiating and team building skills. By being able to work effectively as a member of a group, career and technical student s will achieve the flexibility and adaptability that America’s work force must have to remain competitive globally.

The Benefits of Implementing a Career and Technical Student Organization. (n.d.).

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