FACTE Annual Conference & Trade Show: Continuous Excellence Supporting CTE Professional Development

The 59th FACTE annual conference and trade show, held July 20-23, in Orlando, Florida, hosted 650+ participants, 40 vendors, and over 100 professional development sessions, representing all areas of CTE education. Each year FLATE collaborates with The Florida Association for Career and Technical Education (FACTE), and the Florida Association of Industrial Technical Education (FAITE), to continue supporting Career and Technical Education professional opportunities in Florida.

The pre-conference FAITE Division activities included tours of the most innovative education and industry hobs: Exolith Lab, part of the Florida Space Institute, and the emerging technology labs at the Valencia College-Osceola Campus.

Sessions coordinated by FLATE-FAITE featured:

• Leveraging Summer Camps to Boost CTE Program Engagement
• FLATE Award Winners Best Practices Panel
• Flip the Classroom: Allowing AI and PBL to Reshape the Classroom, and 
• Building Effective Advisory Committees for your Tech Programs.

Best Practices Award Winner Panel:

Judith Deeley, 2025 Manufacturing Secondary Educator-of-the-Year

Dale Toney, 2013 Manufacturing Secondary Educator-of-the-Year

Sophia Watson, 2025 Distinguished Manufacturing Partner Service Award

FLATE Awards Recognition at FACTE

The 2025 FLATE Education Award winners were proudly honored during the Annual FACTE Awards Brunch on Wednesday, July 23, in Orlando, recognizing their outstanding contributions to technical education and workforce development.

From left to right:
Mark Gaudio, DC Jaeger

Judith Deeley

Rod Jaeger, DC Jaeger

Ernie Friend - Executive Director, FLATE

Sophia Watson

Danielly Orozco-Cole - CTE Program Manager, FLATE

Thank you to the FACTE team for hosting such a wonderful event and for recognizing the FLATE Awards. FLATE remains committed to partnering with FACTE and FAITE to provide professional development and to support CTE education for Florida’s students, educators, and business partners.

Special thanks to the awards sponsors Bluegrass Educational Technologies, LLC & Connected Engineering, and DC Jaeger for their generous contributions.