(Left to right: Katie Hatt, New Teacher of the Year Award, K. Peder “Pete” Gjovik, Teacher Educator of the Year)
The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) announced the 2019 National Award Winners in eight different award categories. The awards were presented at the ACTE CareerTech VISION 2018 Conference in San Antonio, Texas. North Dakota Career and Technical Education (CTE) is honored to announce that two of the best CTE educators in the country are from North Dakota.
Katie Hatt, New Teacher of the Year Award
Hatt teaches medical careers courses within the Grand Forks Public Schools and at Grand Forks Area Career & Technology Center (GFACTC). The GFACTC provides CTE courses to eight member school districts through various distance learning models. Hatt was hired to develop, from scratch, medical terminology and nurse assistant courses; she successfully developed and continues to deliver both courses with tremendous results.
In addition to the time and effort spent developing online courses, Hatt has established a weekly visitation schedule to conduct hands-on skill labs with her students in their home schools. Hatt has also been an advocate for her students while working with state agencies to review testing accommodations for the growing population of English language learners within the region.
Hatt participated as an advisor for a team of HOSA students at the 2017 North Dakota HOSA State Conference, as she recognizes how CTSOs can provide additional learning and leadership skill development opportunities for students.
K. Peder “Pete” Gjovik, Teacher Educator of the Year
Gjovik has focused his career on providing educational opportunities to students and teacher candidates in career and technical education fields including trade, industry, technical, health science, and technology and engineering education. He relies on previous experiences as a public school educator, a printing and graphics industry entrepreneur, and CTE professor at the two-year college level to guide decisions regarding traditional and alternative pathways to licensure for technical educators.
He currently serves as the department of technology chair and co-director of the Don Mugan CTE Leadership Center at Valley City State University. Gjovik uses a variety of methods to vet teacher candidates—including traditional face-to-face mentoring and field experiences, distance supervision and mentoring through interactive video technologies—and to inspire future generations of CTE educators.
To help alleviate the technical educator shortage, he also supports North Dakota’s Transition to Teaching and clinical practice programs.