On March 19th the Minnesota Foundation for Student Organizations (MFSO) held its 6th annual Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) Day at the Capitol! CTSO Day at the Capitol provides (CTSO) student leaders an opportunity to engage their state Representatives and Senators in discussions about the impact career and technical student organizations have had on their education.

The day prior to the event students were invited to attend training. They had an opportunity to meet each other and learn how the different career and technical student organizations serve students and enrich their career areas. They also learned about the political process and how they can have an impact.

The following day our students met in the Judicial Center for a quick refresher training and breakfast; then they were off and running! With more than 25 student leaders participating, we had five different groups of students out and about that day. Every student that attended met with either their State Representative or Senator; some met with both. It was a busy day!

This day isn’t possible without a lot of help! So a big thank you to our MFSO Board Members, CTSO Executive Directors and chaperons 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 it's partners: the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU). To date, the project has directly supported sixteen secondary and ten post secondary CTSO chapters. Direct support provided economically disadvantaged chapters the opportunity to engage in opportunities that would otherwise not have been available to them. The full report for 2017 [FY17] was recently completed and can be found here: Overcoming Barriers: Supporting Nontraditional, Underserved and Special Populations.

Recently, the MFSO was featured in Techniques Magazine for support students in poverty through Career and Technical Student Organizations. The entire article can be found here: Making An Impact: How CTSOs Support Students in Poverty.