Fairbanks celebrates National Career and Technical Education Week

Submitted by Michelle Renfrew
Phone: (907) 455-2833
02/09/06

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Tanana Valley Campus, Fairbanks North Star Borough School District and Alaska Department of Labor will celebrate National Career and Technical Education Week Feb. 12-18, 2006.

The theme of the week-long celebration, "Career Tech: Education for Success," emphasizes the role vocational-technical education and its business and industry partners play in helping youths and adults achieve career success.

Activities scheduled for the week include Career Tech Expo 2006, being held Saturday, Feb. 18 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at James T. Hutchison Institute of Technology.

"In addition to hands-on activities and the opportunity for students to tour our facilities and speak with our faculty, we have numerous business and industry partners from around the state available during the expo to talk with students and their parents about potential career paths and opportunities,"? said TVC Director Rick Caulfield. "We want students to see the many different types of programs and training that are available to them and the types of jobs they can obtain with a degree in a technical field."?

According to the Alaska Department of Labor, research shows that only 33.9 percent of Alaska’s top jobs--those with higher than average wages and good job prospects--require a bachelor’s degree or higher. Many of the fastest-growing occupations in Alaska require the technical skills taught in career-tech education programs.

Career Tech Expo 2006 is being sponsored by TVC, FNSBSD and the Alaska Department of Labor with the support of numerous industry partners and employers from around the state.

For more information on National Career and Technical Education Week or how to become involved in Career Tech Expo 2006, contact Michelle Renfrew at TVC at (907) 455-2833 or Jeanette Hayden at the FNSBSD at (907) 452-2000 ext. 424.