The Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center is doing a lot of things right.

A strategic planning survey issued by the CTC and completed by 255 students, parents, community members, advisory committee members, employees and government partners revealed 90 percent of those surveyed have an above-average or outstanding perception of the CTC.

Among employers who had CTC students intern with them, 100 percent would participate in the internship program again.

But there are areas for improvement and places where the CTC needs to set its sights for the future.

They were addressed on the survey, and those responses were discussed at a final strategic-planning meeting Monday night.

About three dozen advisory-board members sat down to hone in on areas where the plan should focus, guided by survey suggestions on how the CTC can gain more involvement from business and industry community and what it should make its priorities over the next five years.

Kevin Dickson, professor of management and marketing and director of the Jane Stephens Honors Program at Southeast Missouri State University, facilitated the discussion.

"Our goal today, before we leave, we want to identify the top four or five priorities to work toward over the next five years," Dickson told the crowd.

They settled on four specific areas:

• Business engagement. The CTC will aim to collaborate more with businesses by seeking more internship outlets and opportunities to evaluate such programs. This could include offering more college-level technical courses to stay ahead of future technological needs.
• Outreach and advertising. The CTC will consider how it reaches out not only to students, but to parents, counselors and potential employers. More advertising for students will be delivered through channels students use. The CTC will be promoted not as an alternative to university education but as an equal choice, focusing on the return on investment CTC graduates receive. One attendee encouraged others to forgo the term "technical training" and focus instead on "career readiness."
• Soft skills. In a previous strategic-planning meeting and in the survey, it was clear there is a need for a focus on soft skills. Communication, timeliness and appearance all could be evaluated through a workplace-readiness grade.
• Flexibility. The CTC will aim to offer more flexible options, particularly with adult-education courses. This could include satellite campuses or online/blended courses.

While other items were addressed on the survey, those four issues were among the most often repeated by responders. The advisory board ultimately decided those issues will be the focus of the next plan.

CTC director Rich Payne said subject areas will be broken down into goals, objectives and actions for the strategic plan, which he said he intends to finalize soon.

"If we can get this done before Christmas break, I will be a happy man," Payne said.

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630