Ivy Tech Kokomo earns two state CTE excellence awards

Last Updated on June 8, 2025 by Cass County Communication Network

ITEP at Maconaquah, Western teaching apprentice honored in Indianapolis

KOKOMO, Ind. — Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo has been honored with two Postsecondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) Awards for Excellence from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

The awards were presented recently at a ceremony in Indianapolis designed to highlight exceptional achievements of CTE students, programs, partners, and counselors around the state who exemplify the ideal qualities and opportunities of Career and Technical Education. Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Chris Lowery congratulated the award winners who were selected from nominations submitted by CTE districts, high schools or Postsecondary partners.

Among those receiving the awards were:

• Maureen Beckwith, a media aide at Western High School now completing an Associate of Science in Education degree as part of Ivy Tech’s Teaching Apprenticeship, who was one of six students statewide honored with the CTE Award for Excellence for Postsecondary Students.
• Jhordan Wheeler, talent connection manager for Ivy Tech’s Kokomo Service Area, who was honored with the CTE Award for Excellence in Postsecondary Career Advising for her work with Ivy Tech Kokomo’s Integrated Training & Education Pathways (ITEP) program at Maconaquah High School.

“We are exceptionally proud of our Career and Technical Education efforts,” said Dr. Ethan Heicher, chancellor of the Ivy Tech Kokomo Service Area. “These awards from the State of Indiana recognize the outstanding work of our faculty and staff who are focused on providing the education and support that will assure our students’ success. Through their dedication, more and more students are finding their futures in fields that offer stable, fulfilling and well-compensated careers.”

CTE Award for Excellence for Postsecondary Students

This award was presented to Maureen Beckwith in recognition of scholarship, character, leadership and career/technical skill proficiency demonstrated as a member of the first cohort in Ivy Tech Kokomo’s Teaching Apprenticeship Program.

Beckwith’s journey to becoming a special education teacher is rooted in dreams that were short-circuited when, after graduating from high school in 1991, she had to quit college after one semester. Over the last 10 years, she has been a media/classroom aide at Western, finally deciding to return to school to become the teacher she always wanted to be. Ivy Tech Kokomo’s new  Teaching Apprenticeship offered an opportunity to blend her on-the-job experience at Western with the college work she needed and to balance it all with her family and community responsibilities.

Beckwith has excelled at Ivy Tech, consistently making the Dean’s List and earning the 2025 Dean’s Award as the top graduate in the elementary education program. In letters supporting her nomination, representatives of Western Schools and the Ivy Tech Education program praised her integrity, leadership skills, curiosity and caring nature. She is described as a dedicated professional, a lifelong learner, and an inspiring mentor who has demonstrated exceptional commitment to both her own education and the success of the students she serves.

“Maureen’s journey is a testament to resilience and determination,” wrote Tara Kaser, dean of Business, Information Technology, and Public Affairs & Social Services at Ivy Tech Kokomo. “After beginning college in 1991, she placed her education on hold to care for her mother and later prioritize her family. Decades later, she returned to higher education with unwavering dedication, proving that it is never too late to achieve one’s dreams.

“Maureen’s goal of having her own classroom, where she can make an even greater impact on students’ lives, is now within reach – an achievement that reflects her perseverance and passion for education.”

With her associate degree in elementary education complete, Beckwith will transfer to Western Governors University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in K-12 special education with the anticipation of an add-on credential that will allow her to teach high school English.

CTE Award for Excellence in Postsecondary Career Advising

Jhordan Wheeler, herself a 2012 graduate of Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo, was honored for her efforts supporting high school students as the service area’s talent connection manager.

In her position, Wheeler works with counselors, principals and teachers to provide students with a pathway to educational attainment that includes work-based learning, under the Integrated Training and Education Pathways (ITEP) program.

Wheeler serves students who are completing pathways from high school to college to career, with the goal of achieving not only a college credential but also having a work-based learning opportunity with local employer partners. With work-based learning, pre-apprenticeships and youth apprenticeships, these employer partners provide a unique work-and-learn opportunity for students based at the company site with hands-on experience, learning skills, and competencies that are transferrable.

Wheeler was specifically honored for her work with Maconaquah High School to offer an ITEP welding program that nine students recently completed, earning Ivy Tech technical certificates in structural welding. The pathway was extended when, with Wheeler’s coordination, Ivy Tech established an accelerated program that will allow participating welding students to finish their associate degree in just two semesters after their senior year of high school.

The ITEP program is expanding to meet the needs of local industry partners by including pathways with work-based learning in construction, human services, and smart manufacturing and digital integration. By adding these pathways, employers will have access to a group of highly skill individuals who can secure long-term employment and success within their business.

Career and Technical Education is an integral part of Indiana’s talent development system. The state’s career and technical education team is housed at the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and helps to connect industry, workforce development, and education. CTE staff assist with the development and implementation of rigorous and relevant career and technical education (CTE) programs of study that prepare students for a wide range of high-wage, high-skill, and in-demand careers. Students in Indiana’s CTE programs will gain the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for success in postsecondary education and economically viable career opportunities.

SOURCE: News release from Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo Service Area