On February 5th the Minnesota Foundation for Student Organizations hosted the 7th annual Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) Day at the Capitol! As ambassadors to career and technical education, our student leaders met with their state Representatives and Senators to discuss the impact career and technical student organizations have had on their education and career path.

With more than 30 student leaders participating, all of Minnesota’s CTSOs were represented. Thank you MFSO Board Members, CTSO Executive Directors, CTE Educators and Administrators that made this day possible!

The Minnesota Foundation for Student Organizations (MFSO) has made it a priority to focus on ensuring nontraditional, underserved, and special populations have an opportunity to engage in meaning participation in career and technical student organizations. Part of that effort has been addressing “poverty in the classroom”. The MFSO has encouraged poverty awareness training directly through Communications Across Barriers with Dr. Donna Beegle. The MFSO also certified its Executive Director, (Emily Saed) as a Poverty Awareness Coach, allowing her to provide individualized support to CTSO Advisors across the state.

The MFSO has had great success administering this project with its partners: the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. The 2018 report was recently completed and can be found here: Overcoming Barriers: Supporting Nontraditional, Underserved and Special Populations.

The MFSO was recently mentioned by the74million.org in the article When Co-Curriculars Spark Careers: Over 80 Years, How ‘Career and Technical Student Organizations’ Have Evolved From Bricklaying to Business Management to Robotics. www.the74million.org