Paul Galbenski is the first Career Technical Education (CTE) teacher to be honored as Michigan Teacher of the Year. Galbenski is a Business Management, Marketing and Technology instructor at Oakland Schools Technical Campus Southeast in Royal Oak with over 19 years of classroom experience. In a video shared by Michigan State Director Patty Cantu, he shares his passion for CTE.
Galbenski’s remarks from the video include:
- The focus of CTE is to make sure students are college and career ready. It is not an ‘either-or’ situation, but an ‘and ‘ solution
- Academic rigor and hands-on technical skills need to be married, so students benefit
- Project-based learning is the key to program success; engagement increases, students see relevance, and stay in school because they are following their areas of interest
Galbenski also shared two success stories on the video:
- A student who participated in the Transportation Technology Career Clusterâ„¢, who subsequently graduated from Michigan State University with a marketing degree, won out a job with General Motors over hundreds of other Marketing candidates because she was the only applicant who ever worked on a car
- Five students who participated in the Information Technology Career Clusterâ„¢ earned 24 college credits by their senior years, enabling them to save substantially for their postsecondary educational training
In a quote from the Michigan Department of Education Web site, Galbenski said “I feel my greatest accomplishment in education is engaging and working with students on a personal level as they are preparing for post-secondary education or employment. In my eyes, being able to build a trusting relationship with students is one of the greatest accomplishments a teacher can experience.â€
Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager