As many of you are aware, over the past 30 years Career and Technical Education has evolved from its roots as occupational or vocational education to what it has become today.  The most recent development in the past 15 years has been the effort to enhance the rigor of CTE programs by adding integrated academics. The result is a holistic experience for students, engaging them in not only the development of technical skills, but in the development of academic understandings that relate to the trade area bringing new meaning to the term "learning experience".  In addition, the ability to develop important problem-solving skills, communication skills, teamwork skills, as well as literacy and numeracy skills helps students more fully prepare for the career challenges they will face.  It is important that we all work together to help our students meet these challenges, working in isolation is no longer an effective approach for CTE Teachers.  In our rapidly changing world, we must continue to develop our ability to prepare students in ways that only a contextualized approach to education like CTE can offer.