Welcome

Letter from the IDEA President 

IDEA Members,

I hope that your 2013-14 school year has been productive and that your semester of teaching has allowed for student growth in learning.  As we pass the half way point of the school year now is the time to get ready for IDEA competition season beginning with Regional registration due by February 7 and concluding with the State Contest on April 12th. Please check out the competition page on our website for more complete competition information. 

Last year we had more than 1000 students and 100 teachers represented at the Regional competition level.  This is a testament to your commitment to your students and the IDEA organization. Your commitment to IDEA can be further strengthen by joining us in a “Power of One” campaign of reaching out to one other drafting, TEE, or engineering teacher you know.  Invite that person join us and allow their students to reap the rewards of their involvement. Use the “Power of One” to make one more teacher, student, administrator, or parent aware of this great organization. If you know of a fellow teacher that has not been involved in IDEA in the past please forward their name and school information to us to include on our email list. We will be reviewing and revising our membership list before next fall and we will be asking you to provide us with up to date information as we move forward.

The Board will be meeting January 31st to further plan for the competition season. If you have any input for the Board please contact us with questions or concerns. We are excited that some of our former Regional sites are getting back involved and we are looking for new Regional sites in the middle of the state to allow more participation by those high schools. We once again want to thank Randy Jacobs and Dr. Ryan Brown for their work on running our competitions.  Thanks also goes out to our Regionalsites and hosts.

One of the more exciting things your organization has done this past year is it voted to fund the $500/year Dr. Ryan Brown Scholarship for former IDEA students enrolled in the ISU CAST department. Please make your future graduates aware of this great opportunity.

Best wishes to you and your students as they compete. One of my greatest joys as a teacher is seeing the faces of my students as they compete and win medals at our contests and realize what they have learned in class has been validated and rewarded. I look forward to seeing you at the IDEA State competition in Normal.

Sincerely,

Steve Skorup

IDEA President

Waubonsie Valley HS Instructor

Ryan K. Brown IDEA Scholarship

Students who have participated in the IDEA annual Drafting and Design Competition and who are attending or planning to attend Illinois State University are now eligible to apply for the new Ryan K. Brown IDEA Scholarship.   Applications are due by May 15, 2014.