Welcome CTE Leaders!
June 9-11, 2025
Younes Conference Center South, 416 W Talmadge Rd, Kearney, NE 68845
For General Registration:
Online registration is now closed. You can still register onsite at the NCE Conference.
For Social Events :
Registration for the socials is now closed. Onsite registration will not be available
The NCE Conference is a professional development learning opportunity featuring national and state CTE leaders. The conference’s focus will be on addressing current and ongoing themes related to CTE instruction. The NCE Conference is sponsored by the Nebraska Department of Education, Nebraska Career Education, and in cooperation with the Association for Career and Technical Education of Nebraska.
Accommodations: A block of rooms have been reserved with a special conference rate. Please make reservations as soon as possible to secure the group rate. Use the code: Career Education Conference 2025.
Hotel Name: Comfort Inn
Street Address: 118 3rd Ave, Kearney, NE 68847
Phone: (308) 251-2722
Special Rate: $134.95
Hotel Name: Fairfield Inn
Street Address: 510 W Talmadge Rd, Kearney, NE 68845
Phone: (308) 236-4200
Special Rate: $139.95
Hotel Name: LaQuinta Inn & Suites
Street Address: 108 3rd Ave, Kearney, NE 68845
Phone: (308) 237-4400
Special Rate: $134.95
*You must call the hotel directly to book and receive the conference room rate. The hotels cannot be responsible for reservations made through any third party. Please note, that the website IS via a 3rd party. Rates quoted herein are per room, per night, and do not include applicable taxes.
Keynote Speakers
Kelly Barnes
Kelly Barnes is a seasoned professional speaker with 20 years of experience working with organizations and businesses. Kelly has helped develop the leadership, communication, and collaboration skills of over 1 million individuals. His audiences range from students and educators to civic and business leaders.
Kelly earned a degree in leadership from OSU, where he also served as Vice President of student government and was recognized as a distinguished graduate.
In addition to his work and leadership roles as an award-winning speaker, Kelly is a baseball enthusiast, avid runner, and lifelong lover of music.
Eddie Slowikowski
Eddie Slowikowski is a former “world class” runner and Gold Medal winner for the USA Track & Field Team. Eddie was the 169th American to break the 4 minute mile with a time of 3:58 in 1990 ranking him as one of the top milers in the country. Eddie was 3-time Division 1 NCAA All-American and National cross country champion out of Loyola University in Chicago. Eddie was a former reporter in training at CNN before launching his own business. Today Eddie is a highly sought after Speaker, Consultant & Author.
Featured Speakers
Starla Ewan
Starla brings over 42 years of teaching and a rich background of experience ranging from coaching, athletic training, all levels of Biology, college instruction of Anatomy, and years of on-site medical observation. She has been presenting successful teaching methods with teachers during conferences and staff development workshops for over 30 years.
Her teaching experience includes Anatomy and Physiology, Medical Microbiology, Pathophysiology, AP Biology, Pre-AP Biology, standard Biology, and mentoring Health Science Curriculum.
The success of Starla’s teaching strategies and increased student understanding of difficult material through the use of hands-on activities and teaching tricks has led her to share with teachers, massage therapists, and medical personnel nationwide.
Dawn Oler
Dawn earned her undergraduate degree in Family and Consumer Sciences Education and her master’s in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Wisconsin – Stout. She earned a second master’s degree in School Improvement Leadership from Olivet Nazarene University. In 2012, Dawn became a National Board Certified Teacher in Career and Technical Education. She was named Illinois Teacher of the Year by the Illinois Association of Family and Consumer Sciences in 2014 and represented Illinois in the AAFCS National Teacher of the Year Award program. She is the author of the Teaching workbook for Goodheart-Willcox Publishers and for the past 21 years has taught Family and Consumer Sciences at Hinsdale Central High School in Illinois. She has also served on the board of the Illinois Association of Family and Consumer Sciences and been actively involved in various roles.
Josie Schafer, Ph.D.
Schafer joined the University of Nebraska at Omaha as the Director of the Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) in 2018, drawn to its strong history and reputation as Nebraska’s go-to source for expert data and analysis, particularly in their role as the State Data Center for the United States Census Bureau. Since then, she has focused on advancing the organization including growing the budget, fueled by cultivating community-engaged research projects, expanding community and professional development events, and committing to a communications strategy that aligns with CPAR’s action-oriented approach. Recent projects lead by Schafer include the Entrepreneurship in Nebraska report, the 2023 Nebraska Healthcare Workforce report, the Nebraska Community Foundation Youth Survey, policy analyses for the Planning Committee of the Nebraska State Legislature, and principal investigator of the Nebraska Rural Transit Project for UNO. Schafer gives over 40 invited presentations a year and responds to even more media and professional requests for Census data.
Denise Leigh
Denise Leigh has spent her career empowering young people as a high school business education teacher for 28 years in rural Pennsylvania. She is also a certified art teacher and enjoys using that talent to elevate her learners through an immersive instructional strategy where creativity and great, rich business education content is joined to provide a truly memorable and meaningful learning experience for her students.
Denise earned her Leaders of Learning Certification through Harvard University in 2023. She is a 2022 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year Finalist with the Pennsylvania Department of Education and active member of NNSTOY, the National Network of State Teachers of the Year. She enjoys speaking at conferences with NNSTOY members to pre-service teachers to empower and motivate them as well as traveling through the U.S. to learn and grow with other business education teachers doing keynotes and sessions where she shares her engaging instructional strategies and love for teaching and learning.
Denise left the classroom just last year to focus on her teacher-author business so that she may serve business teachers and empower them and save them time.
Sponsors
Platinum
Gold
Silver
