Session 13: Education and Business Engagement: Expanding Opportunities for Students
Good. Afternoon welcome. To the Department. Of Education. Video, streaming, program. That today, will feature the office of Career. And Technical, Education. And. We, will be dealing with the, topic of business, and industry partnerships. How can. Educate. Engaged. With. Business. So that we, increase, the pipeline of. Skilled. Graduates. From, high school programs. Going in to post-secondary. Programs, as well. As directly. To work. Joining. Me today is. Stewart, Harris who leads the, development. Of. The advanced, integrated. Manufacturing. Program. At. Thomas, Nelson Community. College. And also. Is, Dressel. Harris. Who. Is the recruitment, and talent, pipeline, strategic. Advisor for. Doh-doh, minion. Power. Additionally. Mr.. Harris, serves as. President. Of the. CTE. Advisory. Council. And. Mr.. Harris. Drexel. Serves. As the, vice chair of the Advisory, Council and of course the Advisory, Council is, a, committee. Of the Virginia. Board of, Education. And. In, their road they. Advised. The department, staff and, the. Board. About education. On. Initiatives. That, will, improve, and advance education. Across. The, Commonwealth. We're. Going to have a series, of informal. Questions. And dialogue. With. Both, bretzel, and Stuart. And we. Will get started, by, asking. Both. Of you from. A business, standpoint. How. Can educators. Engage. Community. Partners. In, preparing, students, for high skill, high demand. And high, wage. Careers. Well. You know I think one of the things that, that, we need to do from an industry standpoint. Is. To engage. The. Students. The, K through 12 system the parents, and. Develop, in projects. Competitions. Things like that one of the things that we saw is very successful, with. Celebrating manufacturing, day where, the students, could. Go into these manufacturing, organizations. And see, the kind of work that's being done in. These. Facilities, today which, are not the same kind of work that. Was done in these facilities back in the 40s and the 50s so, high-tech. Manufacturing. Is out there. We. Do not do the best job at times getting that word out so Manufacturing, day is. Celebrated in the first Friday. In October, but, it could be something that could be done all year long in, addition, to that NASA Langley, is. Hosting, a program and, it's available. Statewide. And, it's, called hunch it's, high schools United, with NASA to create hardware and. Basically this is a program, where. The. Field centers like. NASA Langley, Research Center, will. Work with high. Schools throughout. The state to. Help students, develop hardware, that will actually go on the international space station again. And this covers all realms, of. Activity. From. Technology. Engineering. Science. Even. Food preparation, was. Part of it so again, it's a good way to getting students, engaged. Into, what's really out there and the kinds of things that are going on around the Commonwealth, in. Korea and Technical Education I, agree. With the steward we. Need to get here, soon. As guidance, counselor's and everyone. Engaged so one way and a lot of the Korean Technical Education Center's they do have, advisory. Councils, and so they need to have. A good mix of Industry. So. We can tell what we, are in. Need of in, the skills that we see that are deficient but, also a mix, of folks can have designed, the right programs, and from. Educational. Side I think, the parents, needs. To be involved, with that too and and, I'm, a big believer of voice of the customer so, we're, doing this for the students, and for the parents so I think those advisory, councils need to at least have some, input.
Or Some voice from the students, who are receiving this and the, voice just. Like with NASA Langley. Dominion. Have a lot of problems we support. Robotics. Program, is a great way for kids. To take a look at different parts. Of it not just building, a robot but it has a whole lot of features we sponsor teens we. Also do wind turbine. Competitions. Where the kids can build a design program. All, these skills, can help them identify. What. Careers, they want and then also figure, out what they need to do while they're in high school so, I think, those, are good ways in, particular the Advisory, Council but they need to have the right mix. That's. A good. Point in your comment. About advisory. Councils. Could. You expand, a little further, on. Ways. In which advisory. Councils. Might. Interact, with, business. And industry, in order to strengthen. The types of programs, that are designed. At the high school level right. The. Advisory, councils, that are mowing among a couple, and, typically. We go to their. Location. And we talk about what. They're doing they present, they ask for advice but. I think the. Advisory, councils, need to go into, the different businesses, and bring, some of the educators, along with them so we can get. Educators. And and, other Advisory Council members into these high skill, how. Can a high, demand job I think that helps, them be a better consultant. To the school system, and. Just. Kind of a related, note. Kicking, off in a poly form of having, teachers. Actually. Do internships. During. The summer in. The area, they're training, the students to go into so, we're hoping that all, of that input back, to the. System. To the parents, or the teachers, will. Help them do a better job of matching, what industry is looking for. The. Advisory, Council George can be a real. Great. Insight. Into the future of the, sector's, whether it's a manufacturing sector. Engineering. Secretary, knew that the sector's that we support through. Our CTE program, but the key I believe, to advisory, councils, is, number one. Ensuring. That we have the right people on the advisory councils, as these as, we start to set these up that the people, in the organisation's, understand. Their business, their. Decision makers they they can help, influence. What's going on and from. The the, school side is, to really listen to the input that you receive from these advisers, and shape, programs, for. The future based on that input because, these folks have a lot of insight, in. Their particular sector as to what's going on and where these companies go because, these companies can only be successful, if, they. Have the right, trained. Educated. Students. Coming in that, work for us their future. Depends. Not only on the. Work, that they've done but, the future work that they're going to do so they, can only grow if, they. Have the right folks. To continue the operation and if they need to grow in addition, to that they need more people in that so the advisory, councils, can have a significant, impact on, the kinds, of. Curriculum. Opportunities. That, teachers. Would have for their students, so that's one thing that we really encourage, is, to make these advisory, councils. Truly. Viable not, just checking, a box, coming. In once a year I have, a meeting and say hey we've done it we have the survival Council, but really, engage and I think corrects will hit on that engage. These these councils, to, help shape the few of Education, and all. The companies that I've talked to want. To do that they're very interested. In sitting down with. The with educators, to make this work because we believe that, the. K through 12 system is, a secret, sauce is going to make, the. Commonwealth, great for future work for us they're going to partner, with the industry, folks to. Understand, what's out there what the needs are and continue, to develop these students. The. Workplace. Is rapidly, changing that. The types, of. Careers. And jobs. That. Will. Be needed five to ten years out. Will. Certainly, change, and in, some, cases we, can forecast. What. Those jobs might. Be and in others, that, arisin. Has not been eat, yet. Given. That what. What, type of skills. Do, students, need to develop so, that they will. Be employable. And. Contribute. To business. Growth, in. The regions, across across. The state. I'll. Start with that that's. A good point the, the stuff that 8th. Grader is learning now the. Jobs that they're looking at may not be there in the future so. What. We really need is is, people. To be able to work in a collaborative manner to, be able to learn to, be able to have. The basics, and whether that's math reading or writing that's gonna make what. We've said a long time but have those bakes and end the ability, to learn. The ability to. Take. New technology. And apply it in a different way so I think that a lot of work, based learning. Initiatives. That we're trying to do it's not so much the widget that they're building the robot that they're building the wind turbine and the villainess but is that, teamwork, that collaboration, and, to be able to take a problem and come, up with a unique, solution so.
More, More, hands-on. Collaboration. More. Working. In team, environment, more, working with people who, are, outside, of their. Expertise. You know that. If you have an engineering student maybe you combine that with a marketing, suited, and you bring them together because, that's the way it works in the real world it's not just engineering it's, not just finance, it's not just marketing, it's not just communication at all at all so that collaboration is important. Yeah. I believe, in that's a good point Rexel is it is a continuing. Involvement. Of employees. And, students. It. Doesn't end at 18 or 22 the education, of the training process and, as. We've seen in the last 20 years the, technology has changed dramatically, and it will continue to change even more rapid than than, what we've seen but students, and, workers that can adapt to this change it, is willing to continue that, learning. Process, we, want the term lifelong, learners, may be an overused term but, but, that is really true the fact that. Our. Employees, and our students, need to continue, to learn, and change and adapt to these environments. Once. You have the basic core skills of the ability to collaborate, and teamwork and. Come. To work on time and things like that or real critical but, as they continue, to change the. Education, and the training of being able to adapt and take on these new. Assignments. Is going to be critical, not only for the growth of the companies but also for the growth of the employees, I. Just. Decided, on that in most cases we. Will train. You, to do what we need you to do you. Just have to have. That. Ability to adapt and be trainable, and be. Willing to to. Learn so I think some of the work experiences. That they can get if it's a internship, if it's a co-op. A job shadow or something, like that I think that helps them prepare, for, the, workplace. Quite. Often we, hear. Educators. Say. They need, funding. They need fun. And. Where. Can I go to find the business, that, might contribute. Funding. But. In the bigger, picture. Talk. A bit about the. Kinds. Of things that. Schools. Perhaps, should be looking, at when. They reach out to business, and industry to establish. A partnership. Well. I think, and get back to the. Workforce trend, the workforce, plan the data so they should take, a look at where. Industry. Is going take. Our industry you know meter readers, were pretty. Big people. Riding, up the harrelson, going and, you back you already and checking your meters, those. Jobs are either no. Longer existent, are they're quickly going because the technology, so, so the. Educators, need to talk, to the businesses, and make sure they understand, the trends, and where things are going and if they can get ahead of that and, develop, program. Businesses. Will, will. Just join that and contribute, funds and have Creek program have buy equipment and all that but, I know, our business, we're, not too. Keen on just, sending, money and, they will build it we want them to have it focus. On business ly and not just our business because it's a ecosystem. Right so we can't hire all the students that come out of a career.
Technical Education or, out of college we can our mo but, if. We has a, ecosystem. Nice. Of, South, Korea the, different, companies all, work, together then, we will have a workforce, that we can all benefit, from so. That's. One of them yeah. The, companies. That I work with historically. Are. Very engaged, in. Helping. Develop that, workforce and they'll do what they can. I believe. The data that we talk about a lot of times. Is. Sort of a snapshot of the past and one, of the things that can help the, education. System, is, to engage in an, active, discussion. With the industry partners, and I think that active, is is really a. Key, word to understand, where the future is going because the future is changing, rapidly. On, in these environments, and the, companies are really interested, in. Hosting. Parent. Days student. Days bringing, folks into, their organization. To actually show them what they're doing today but also what they're doing in the future and I think that the better. Relationship. That, education. Can established. With. The, industry, partners. Good. Things will follow that whether, it's whether its funding a lot of a lot of larger companies have, educational. Funding that they can sponsor and as some of the folks that I talked to I have, that that. Will lend to provide subject, matter experts, in the classroom, to help with that the interested. In doing shattering, programs, bringing students. In to. See what they're doing in their particular industry. Externships. Are really important. Getting. Teachers in, out of the classroom, and into the industry sites, again. And there's some programs out there that will do that so I think all of these things is part of the system. That. Needs. To be. Developed. And it needs to be continually, worn but it's all about the relationship. I believe. That, education. K. Through 12, develops, with, their industry, partners, in. Their region we have great resources, in. The Commonwealth, you know when I look at the aerospace, side which is my background we. Have two. Centers. In the Commonwealth of Virginia Langley, Research Center in aerospace research down, in Hampton Virginia I Wallops. Flight Facility. Over. On the Eastern Shore and. The mid-atlantic regional, spaceport is. One with for those in a country we have one of those in. The Commonwealth of Virginia all of these places, need. These highly skilled, technical. Workers for, the future so we have great opportunities. With. That, the. Drexel mentioned with with. Dominion, a great, opportunities, they are shipbuilding. Is a large sector. And they can the Commonwealth, cybersecurity all of these things, are, part of the system. That we have developed and all of these companies are very interested in partnering so again. To, say to that end if, we can actually develop, those relationships between. The education. System, and the industry, partners, I believe. Will help tremendously industry. Wants to help. When. We look. At the. Demand. For, for, jobs. In. Your, two perspective. Respective. Respective. Industries. NASA, and. Dodo. Minyan. What. Are some of the types of. Jobs. Of. Career. Fields, that. You. See an immediate need, for and. Then, part, of some that, you. See will, might. Become, more. Significant. In the years ahead. I'll. Start you, know the baby boomer, generation, is. Agent. And I. Like, to quote, one, statistic. That says. 10,000. Americans, turn, 65, every day, another, 10,000. Return that's and the baby boomers that are aging and, so our workforce, and our workforce is no different than anybody else about.
A Third of the workforce can. Probably, retire in. The next five years five to six or seven years so, with, that there and that's just that's not just, technical. Or skilled. Trades that's across, the spectrum. What. We've done really well over the years is we develop. A good, pipeline, and good relationship, with the universities, for a lot of the. Office. The engineer, and then you. Know the engineering degree or the technical positions. That, require degree so we we. Are ahead, of that we, know, what we're doing the, biggest gentleman, even though both are gonna be challenges, for everybody, not just us and we're, gonna be competing, with everybody, else for that same talent the biggest one is skill traits the, skill tree. We've been living through, a period of time where. Everyone. From parents, to guidance, counselor, to teachers, or friends to, mentors, say you got to go to college you got to go to college and, and, they've. Kind of ignored the, the some. Very high paying jobs in, many cases are they accomplish, great do we get they've ignored those, jobs that are skilled trades like jobs that don't require as, much, of an investment, in education. In. Order to get those and fight. One. Of the reasons I'm focusing on the career for. The minion is is that they can pick up a lot of those skills in, the right program. That's designed water, in high school and they can even you, know come out with a degree. If, they don't have a degree definitely, have certification. And areas, that are important to us so for us it would be, electricians. Mechanics. Lined. Workers, it would be, plant. Operators, power plant operator, while. Our industry, is is. Not projected to grow partly, because the technology, I've mentioned the beetle readers we, don't have as many media reason we used to our, plants, we're building new plants that, operate, with 50 people where in the past that, made it at 500, or may have been close to a thousand, for the same megawatt saw but. What what that means is is. The. Baby boomers are leaving and, we're. So gonna have to replace those. Skill sets replace, those people so there's still gonna be a big replacement. Need even, though the industry, may not be growing as much the replacement, need is what's gonna drive us with all of the folks are retiring every, day another. 10,000. People turn, 65, in. The u.s.. Yeah. That's, a good point, the. Piece that I say, is. A trades, and then there's a there's another segment. Out there and. It's drugs I made a good point there's a lot of universities create, a lot of good pipelines, for a lot of the engineers and scientists, we need we, have not done such a good job creating a pipeline for these technician. Technologists. That. We need and. I'll go back to the two more of the trades area but machine, is for example in an out region, down. In the Hampton, Roads Peninsula, region, I'm. Working, with a company down, there that. Cannot find the, the number, of machinists, that they need, CNC. Level. Of machinist, and they're. Going to, Texas. Louisiana and. Places like that using. Head honors to bring in machinist, and. Paying money to do that and these, machinists, will come in and work for a while but as soon as a job opens up back home they, go back home so so. So we lose at that point it's just a temporary fix so, we need to develop a strong pipeline, based. On the future needs of that the second part of that is there's, another segment out there and I've, coined the term technologists. That bridges, the gaps between. A lot of the trades areas, and the engineering, piece. And these are the people that become some of the problems all over some of the, work. In engineering problems. More of the technology, hands-on. Focused. Type, activities. And there so it doesn't rule me for that one, of the things that, we're doing at. Thomas Nelson is. Developing, this advanced, integrated manufacturing. Technician. That's going to help bridge, that gap between the. The technician, side and. The engineering side. Mechatronics. Is another area that there's. A lot of growth area and a lot of growth opportunities, in, those areas as these manufacturing. Organizations. Become more and more automated, the. Mechatronics ability. The troubleshoot, repair and understand. What's going on in these systems, there's, critical, aerospace. Technicians, as, another one Drexel. Said the aerospace. Technician, is. Great out also, as. You look around at just the Commonwealth but throughout the country we, hear the same message where the. Boomers are starting to retire, the, average age a lot, of these, career.
Paths, Folks. Are in their 50s and within the next five to seven years we'll be retiring and create, another gap so great, opportunities, in, these areas. How. Should. Educators. Design. And, shape. Their classroom. Instruction. Around. High, demand, occupations. For. The future. Well. You know I think and. This goes back to the advisory. Industry. Collaboration. Piece. Where you really have to talk. To these folks and to develop, these projects. That's going to align with. Real-world projects, Cistus in the industry. Utilize. These mentors for feedback and not, just be polite but. Push back sometimes, and say you helped me understand, this. Particular problem what can we do better. In this early I hand the, folks. Want. To provide the feedback. And. What we just have to push, hard I believe to get that feedback but make projects, that, are relevant to, what's. Going on right now in the industry I. Think, one thing they should include, in that design is let. Me step back a little bit but I took this role I said we need to get the students, into our workplace more, and that's gonna be job shadows internships. Or co-op we. Need to get the. Educators, into the workplace because they're training these folks for their, workplace, in for the future and that, goes through the teacher externships. And all that but, we need to get our our, folks into the classroom, they, need to be a professional. Whether. It's a guest lecturer, or whether it's, actually. Allowing, them the ability, to be able to teach and that's. There's, a barrier to that and, there are people who. Are, retiring. Who. We're. Living longer so the health is certainly. Gonna shape their return they have a skill. Set they have some ability, to do some stuff they just need to get the money is not the issue here. Whether, they get paid and get paid a little bit now they're at a point they want to give back and share some, of that knowledge and. So. Maybe. That's not the schools maybe. That's a bit of structural, problem is the finding ways to get. People. With, the spirits, with. Expertise. With time, to. Come into the classroom and to be able to help. Teach co-teach, or whatever you want to call it but if we can get those folks 10,000. People every day and so a lot of them have a lot of knowledge to share. And. They have the time and money of not as big of an issue as when. They were younger in their careers. Stuart. How. Would you see. Labor. Market. Data, playing. A role in, the. Design of middle. And hat and high school, programs. Well. I think the labor market, data is, good. It. Kind. Of takes the trends, from the past, and. Some. Of the analysis, that I've seen I don't. Think it probably takes enough. Understanding. Of the future and, I think that's where you need to take the data and sit down with these companies, and. Validate. Is this really where we're going because I see from, time to time a disconnect, between the data and, where some of the companies are actually talking about what. They need for the future so, I think that. Interactive. Process, it needs to be a, very, collaborative process again. Between. The. K, through 12 folks. And the, industry that's why you, cannot decouple, any one of these processes it's a it's a classic systems. Engineering, type activity. Where you need to bring all of the components, to the table and sit down and talk about what. The needs are because ultimately that's where they where, the rubbers going to meet the road as to where these companies need. Employees, for, the future, regardless, of what the data says sometimes there's. A there's a disconnect, there I believe, the. Interaction, the collaboration.
Is Critical, that would be one of the the, takeaways, I would think from today's discussion. Was. To really engage, the. Industry. Partners, as to, what they need today not, only today but what they need in the future I did. A a CTE. Roundtable. Before. The holidays. And. It was. Manufacturing. Automotive. And, construction. And, we probably talked, to a, couple at least a couple hundred school. Counselors, down on the Virginia. Peninsula and. The, interesting, thing was they were surprised, at, the number of jobs, the. Quality, of jobs and the pay for. These or there was there was a total, disconnect I believe. Between, what. The. Group was thinking and what reality was so that told me that we're not doing the greatest job that, we need to do to, engage our. Education. System, and to really what's going on if we're the future is in and you know automotive, anything and even I'm. Being in the. CTE. Arena, I was surprised, at some of the advancements, in automotive. Not, just repairs, but, also the, collision. Repair side. Of it the construction piece, is going on so, again, it great, advancements. In those areas where it's. No longer just. A person. Swinging. A hammer on a nail or, B. Now they're down an offender it's a lot more advanced than that technology, is changing dramatically. And you need people that can understand, that so I think. The, collaboration. Piece is, critical you know you, you've hit a couple times Seward about the data end and that's, true the data is really looking back with yeah you know you're looking backwards, and you're making some plans. You're putting resources, and money base on that and. So you need to be careful at looking at what was in, last. Year okay. And, cleaning, people for that but, there are some. Common. Skills. There's. Some some. Things that will not change necessarily. From. What. You did yesterday and what you're gonna do tomorrow especially on. The short term you mentioned technology so. To, be an auto mechanic, you. Have to be, fluent. And comfortable, with using. Computer. Technology and, interpreting, data and, entering data in that way to.
Operate, A power plant that the, way we go from 500 people, down to 50 people there's a lot of technology, involved there, so, so, that, whole. Technology. Capability. To adapt, to it and I think this generation is pretty good at doing that and so, if we can take that and tie to. The. Common. Commonality. Between, NASA, between, the million between other companies. Between. Organizations. And what is common, and focus. On those fundamentals. And, they. Just need to have the ability to learn as soon as they need to be able to. Take. New. Input we don't know what the problems are gonna be five years from now in our industry we, don't know what the channel is gonna be ten years ago we, wouldn't have been looking at solar as hard. As we looking, at it now I think I just saw something. Dominion. Has invested. Close to a billion dollars and new, solar we went from basically zero percent. Solar and. It's coming well about. Five. Or six years ago -. Nah we're we're ranked - amongst the biggest solar. Producers, in the country so, if, you looked at that five years ago and you told people not to train for solar and, there was no reason to train for solar they've. Kind of missed that window right and now, if you start training for solar then, the solar. Is, old now what's the next new thing you. Know so, need, to be able to take those skills side of either transfer, those. Work. Base learning is. Becoming. Increasingly. Important. In the. K-12, arena and, as. We look at the, various, work based learning modes. Including. Job shadowing, internships. Externships. Clinical. In. Your, industries. What. Type of opportunities. Are there, for, for, students. To. Be engaged in. Any of those work. Based learning, opportunities. As well. As teachers. And that be doing the. School. Year, are during. The summer so. So let me start with our our industry, safety. Is, paramount, in, our industry we deal with a lot of energy, and bad. Things can happen if you don't, do that right and while, there a provision that would allow someone. Under 18 to, work in, the field we've. Taken approach, that, we're. Not gonna put anyone, under 18 I didn't feel environment, where there, is increased. Risk, of. Getting, hurt our. Folks who worked out there our, line, workers they go to a five-year, training, program, before, we say you're a journeyman you can go and do it so so, that, limit us as far, as being, able to, put. Them in actual work environment, and produce work we. Are able to, do job, shadows, of bringing a man and and then, a job setter that might be three, parts it may be a classroom, part, where we kind of go over the, system, and how we do what we do then, we will take them on a guided tour when our power plants, and so they can they, can feel the heat they can hear the vibration, they can see the environment. Working. And they can see things that may spark. Career. Interest and then, we take them out and let them talk to different folks who are doing that type of work so, we can do that all day long on, our nuclear, side at, North Anna, and. Surry, we, have nuclear information, centers that are there it's, like a science, laboratory in itself and, we do tours probably, four. Five. Or six thousand, students, a year that, we bring through there we try to get them early we talk, k12, but in some cases people forget about ten, through nine, and, they just focus on in through 12 but you really have to start early that, career exploration. That career, aware, and then so our information, centers are available, for. Folks of schedule, tours with their students. Bring. The teachers we're doing that with some of the schools not that the teachers come to students, come they, can walk freely into whatever the informations, are we put on a bus and we take them inside the plant the nuclear plant and. Their can find it but they could see and and get, explain what, we're doing and what type of skills are needed for that so. Teachers. We. Have more flexibility. We can put them anywhere, and we can put them in a plant we can put them in our training centers and this, pilot, that I've been to before where, we haven't teach Excel, we're gonna start in the Train the center teachers, are at the core trainers, okay and we're. Training our folks and we, think, that would be a good place to bring the teachers in so that we can see they can see the challenges, that we're having with the product, that they're producing okay.
And Then, maybe, they can change some of their techniques, to help when. It go back to classroom, but also maybe. They can help our. Trainers, our trainers, are basically. Practitioners. That are very good and we make them trainers, okay. And so they may not have some of the instructional, design techniques, and all that so we think is a mutually, beneficial relationship. With. The teachers with the students, it, was to get the 18 we can do more with you yeah. We're, in the same situation, externships. With. Instructions, and the teachers there's lots of summer programs. Available. For teachers if they want to take advantage of that the. Under-18 students is harlot's, more of a job shadowing, program, right now that's probably something we need to explore. To look at see if there are opportunities that we, could work, more. Closely with that and there's, a way to work. That type of activity. But, but it is harder with the under-18 students. I was just selling on day T but, that's, the minion and then, but, there are there are a lot of. Contractors. Hate positions. The heating and ventilation, and, air conditioning or. Plumbing. And, electrical. Where, they. In auto shops they have the ability, I've. Seen to do more of that and. Those skills that they gain there, can. Be transferred. To our. Industries. Later so, there's. Not a all, bad news it's, just some, companies, have that eighteen year old so. Question. For Stuart. Pertaining. To dual. Enrollment, and given you at Thomas, Nelson. How. Do you see dual enrollment, opportunities. Happening. Between high, schools, in. The Peninsula. Region. And. Thomas. Nelson, the. Dual enrollment piece you, know I believe it's key not. For just now but also for the future and. Thomas. Nelson and we entered into a dual enrollment, activity. With new with the new horizons Regional, Education. Center. Down in Hampton, for, the mechatronics program. We, set up a mechatronics programs. Primarily. A full, adult learners but, we were able to work with new horizons to. Bring in. Students. From the. School districts, represented, down there to take the mechatronics program it's. A one-year program and with that program, they'll. End up with 22, college. Credits and a, Siemens, level 1 certification. In. Mechatronics, which they can they can take that on and. Get a Siemens, level 2 certification, then, continue on to the universities, all in the mechatronics ru, so that's, King as. Our benchmark, activities. Around the country, programs. That were very successful have, figured, out how to enter into that dual enrollment, activity. With the community. Colleges so I believe that's that's a key, opportunity. For us were continuing, to explore. Other opportunities with. Industry. In the Community College area. In in bill enrollment, programs but the mechatronics program has, been one that's been very. Successful for that and. When we brought the students and new. Horizons had an open house and. One of the things that really sold the program. What. The students came in and, they saw well-lit. High. Tech environment, great, equipment was. They were very interested, in and secondly.
The Parents came in and saw that also but they also saw. That their. Child. Could, pick up 22 college credits and a level 1 certification still. In high school that that's a real selling. Point and I think it goes back to what we talked about earlier. Continued. To develop that pipeline of students to make these types of, jobs. Attractive. Upon future. Applicants. At. Dodo. Minion. If. High. School graduate, comes in, and enters, the, linemen. Training. Program. What, type of educational. Opportunities. And support, does. Your. Industry. Provide trestle, right so our. Apprenticeship. Program is is, not a state, approved apprenticeship, program that's all in-house, and, it, is. An, apprenticeship, program we were working on getting it to be, approved. With the Department of Labor industry. So. When, a linemen, come in we, have that. Periodic. Training that they do over those five years right. Now we're working on and. I think. Our. Trio Philip, Morris has got, this with John Tyler already with, that as they go through this five-year training program that, at the end, they. Can have a two-year, associate's, degree by supplementing. The, other educational. Requirements, with John Tyler and so, that's that's our Ian goal there is that all of our and we have several. The lineman training program is just one but, to have those so that if someone is going to come in and invest. That time with, us to go through a five-year. Four-year, apprenticeship, program, that the end of the day yes they've got a Department. Of Labor certificates. And they've been to a training, program but they also have an associate, degree to, go along with it and. We. Have tuition reimbursement. As most, major companies, do and so, we. Make it easy for them to afford. It a lot. Of time and to schedule for them to do it. Excellent. I. Really. Appreciate, the opportunity to. Have discussed. A few, topics. Today. And. In, closing I would ask both, of. Both of you, what. Would your. Final, words of advisement. And encouragement, be. To. High, schools, and middle schools across. The state in terms of, preparing. Students, for tomorrow's. Pipeline. Outside. It. It's all simple, don't, forget the fundamentals, Bobby we. Still see. Issues with students, coming out with math. And. Reading. And, writing skills. Efficiencies. We still have to deal with that so don't. Forget the fundamental, and that starts, earlier than high school obviously, and. On that point, and. I mentioned, we talked, k12. But. People. Lose interest, at the younger. Age and I think that we should. We. Should, have. The right development opportunities.
For In, kindergarten, in first-rate but, at, a minimum we should get down to middle school because that's the point that they're beginning to, figure. Out, what they want to do what they have interest, in what they care about where the passion in and if you can give them, the. Right exposure the. Right, mentors. The guidance, you have industry. Experts not just the. Parents, of the kids in the class but have people where, the jobs are come in and talk to those kids about, what, their job is and what they can do a thing they need to focus there and the last thing you, know in, particular, with the career technical education. Centers. And within. The school I think they're doing a great job I mean Bank. When I was in high school, people. Were not doing those, type of things in high school so, they're doing a great job I think. Is. There's. A possibility to. For. Trained. Teachers. Educators, who say. They got it and they design something and they stick with that and go they need to as source they continually, have, that feedback and, that connection with the industry leaders so that they can that there I I believe. That, the CTE, programs, and the community college are, nimble, they, can change based, on what energy want, they need to talk, to industry and. Figure out where it's going and last. Point on this on the Advisory, Council, I'm, all several, I, think, they can become more, general. More strategic. And more, purposeful. Of what they're doing with the Advisory Council it's great the time they only get an update on what you're doing. But. I think much more could be done with those, okay. Yeah. I think, is that. Close and wrestle, head-on, we. As industry, folks who really want to help yeah, we have great resources, around. The Commonwealth of Virginia to help in. Our school, systems, and you need to leverage that capability. The, technical skills are still required we we never want to give up on those those are important, the, soft skills we talked a lot about, still. Critical, when. We look at the, total. Employee. But. You. Folks are really as. I said earlier the secret sauce that makes this all work. Building. A highly qualified workforce, is, critical for a region, in. A Commonwealth's, economic, health and you, as educators, determine. The future with. The students, you teach and. The influence, that you have with these students, we're, here to come alongside of, you and help you do. That great. Great, opportunities. Great. Career assets. Around. The state. Leverage. That and collaborate. With. These teams. With these industry, partners, to. Try to. Develop. The, future of the work fullest in. Virginia. Stewart. And Dredd, sue, we. Really. Appreciate, the time and the. Thoughts. And. Information. That you shared. Today and, perhaps, more importantly, we, appreciate. And thank you for serving as president, and vice, president, of the. State's, Career. And Technical Education, Advisory. Code. Teachers. And programs will. Benefit. For, decades, for the contributions. That, that, both of you and the other advisory. Committee. Members make. To. Technical. Programs. On an annual, basis, so we. Thank, you very very much. Appreciate, thank.
You Thank, you. The. Department, staff really. Believes, it is important. To receive, feedback. Pertaining. To the professional, development video. Series. That are provided. Throughout the year please. Take a few minutes to, click, on the, evaluation. Survey link. On, the. Webpage. That. Provides. The, link to this video. We. Value, your input and. Will use, your, comments, to continue, to improve on, our, services. Thank. You very much for participating, in. This, program and, we. Wish you a very successful. Remainder. Of the, school year, thank, you.
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