CTSOs AND PREPARING STUDENTS FOR LEADERSHIP 1

CTSOs and Preparing Students for Leadership

Kristina Glen

University of Idaho
CTSOs AND PREPARING STUDENTS FOR LEADERSHIP 2

Introduction

A Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) can be thought of as being a small

community within your school. Students typically remain with the same CTSO for much if not

all four years of their high school experience. It is during this time the mission for students to

gain understanding in each other, their strengths and their weaknesses, in order to build

themselves into a stronger unit/community and a stronger individual as they grow their

leadership skills in preparation for their present and future selves. Through a CTSO and the

guidance of an advisor, many opportunities will arise for student preparation in leadership,

student/community relations and support, as well as leading them to their next steps into the real

world through personal growth.

Students who participate in a CTSO tend to have close relationships with their CTSO

advisor and those who are within the club. It's part of the experience of the CTSO, its almost

like a family. Whether it is viewed as a small community or a family group, these students

depend on each other no matter what grade level they are in or their specific role within the

CTSO. They all share the same goal and that is for their club to succeed in each of their

categories or events through intracurricular activities. The students show their respect with one

another as well as how they care for one another in the ways that they are productive members of

their CTSO.

As a CTSO advisor, the role can be complex as it is the advisor's job to navigate and

guide the CTSO process through the support of the student work in intracurricular activities.

They are the team leader, coach, and mentor to each of the students within the club. It is through

this leadership that the advisor is able to help facilitate teambuilding between the students to

create a stronger unit, a heightened buy-in for the program.

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Running a CTSO on top of teaching state required classes comes with extra responsibility

and extra time. Fortunately, that responsibility could be lightened by integrating the two by

guiding students to support each other, to rely on each other and to hold each other accountable

so that the group can form a sort of identity amongst themselves. Doing so students can succeed

and enrich their growing through the various opportunities and activities that they pursue in

efforts of helping the community or in raising funds for competitions and trips. These skills can

be continuously fostered through integration in class curriculum, create a bit of self-discipline

within the students. Under a solid CTSO, students would continue to be a strong unit by only

losing student participation through graduation attrition and by recruiting freshman for each year.

Through this sort of training, students will learn to manage their own time, be able to run

meetings essentially on their own, and they will expand the experiences for the CTSO to use in

various intracurricular projects. It's through this kind of support that cooperation, respect and

teamwork are strongly developed, enabling them to transition into their real world post-

secondary lives.

One of the most powerful aspects of a CTSO occurs when students learn who they are

through their work. They understand how it directly relates to what they are doing after

graduation, in the real world. Being in a high school atmosphere, our students are on the edge of

adulthood, and the best way for them to learn about being an adult is for them to assume some

adult responsibilities through self-discipline with the guidance of their CTSO advisor. Students

can learn about their own particular weaknesses, strengths, and interests through their CTSO,

through competing through various events. It is strongly encouraged for students to learn

through both their mistakes and accomplishments via reflection, as that's the way it works in the

real world. Fortunately, their CTSO advisor is there to catch them and to guide them through
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their options. It can take some time to groom your CTSO, helping members develop into strong

elected officials. Through designing an active CTSO, the students will teach each other and

develop their own legacies with only some guidance coming from the CTSO advisor.

Building a strong CTSO will not happen overnight, it might not even happen within two

years. With a growth mindset within the organization and students, the journey to a well-built

CTSO is attainable. There can be pride in knowing that as a CTSO advisor that they are

cultivating and building future leaders may need encouragement, some scaffolding, holding of

their hands through some situations. Advisors are able to reflect with students after an event.

This will help students identify what they did really well and areas for improvement, all while

using very specific skill building techniques.

The good news is your students will become positive members of the community with

leadership skills that will take them not only to their next level of education, but also into their

careers/workforce, and then potentially building families of their own. Time will make things

seem stressful, as if there's never enough time. In the end, it will be rewarding as you help

celebrate your CTSOs and as your students move on to the next chapter of their lives as adult

leaders. Some of the important leadership skills to build include helping students work on

developing their work ethic and accountability, develop creative ideas within their CTSO for

various needs such as meeting event requirements, as well as creating the funds to participate in

events. The other aspect of being creative is having the ability to inspire others through

community works and the power of innovation, looking outside of the box and making

connections, sometimes it's all about who you know and networking.

Another factor that would help develop personal growth and leaders mindsets is by

entering a CTSO as a freshman and being able to observe the leaders as they mature and
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eventually graduate. As each level moves up into elected postition, the younger students can

watch those new leaders struggle to find their footing. It can be both exciting and frustrating for a

leader to gain their footing in new circumstances. As leaders, it's important they increase their

understanding where they are in the context of other people and their school, and their CTSO.

As a CTSO advisor there is a lot of responsibility in playing the role of a mentor to these

young high school students. In order to build a powerful mentorship between the advisor and the

student there needs to be a relationship that is felt through the grooming and fostering of

leadership skills. One of the most important priorities in students developing the leadership skills

is for the CTSO advisor to also cultivate their own skills in leadership. This means having to do

the very best on every level to be a positive and encouraging mentor, including the giving of time

for reflection. Understanding why something was successful or not successful, and keeping a

growth mindset that there's always room for improvement and there's always other ways of doing

things. Leadership can grow and can build for a more effective leader. Working in a

collaborative spirit between advisor and students can really aid in the scaffolding and guidance

of students building their own leadership skills within their intracurricular activities of the

CTSO.