What a great meeting at Nash Community College today! We announced our endorsement of the SkillsUSA Framework, which provides a common language/shared vocabulary for students, job seekers and employers. You can learn more here, plus we’ll be sharing more in newsletters, on social media and at future meetings! I shared a few other partnership updates, which you can see a list of on the slides below. Just reach out if you have any questions! Also included was some basic information about our career pathways, including an updated video focused on our Advanced Manufacturing pathway.
SkillsUSA NC Director Paul Heidepriem (paul@skillsuanc.org) and Membership Director Rod Lykins (rod@skillsusanc.org) explained the framework and led a great activity focused on communication, which is one of the “workplace skills” noted in the framework. One of our pathway partnership champions, Wil van der Meulen (wil@skillsusanc.org), was able to share some great examples and talk a little about the Skillibus concept, where employability skills are integrated into curriculum. Wil is now serving as the Post-Secondary Support Director. Reach out to any of these guys if you are interested in learning more about SkillsUSA, especially the competitions. They provided some great framework posters as well!
Rhonda High, Director of Corporate Training for Nash Community College, shared information about Customized Training and Pre-Apprenticeships, sharing some of the great successes they have had with both programs! Several students who completed pre-apprenticeships this summer have been offered jobs as a result of those programs. Companies using customized training report great success when utilizing those services to help upskill their workforce. One of those companies is The Crump Group, a Canadian company specializing in dog food. Anthony Valovic, Plant Manager, shared that several of his employees are currently participating in a leadership training through Nash CC, which will allow them to be promoted into team leads or supervisors upon completion. Mr. Valovic has worked with several local plants over the years, and reported great success using programs such as these.
After the meeting we were treated to an optional tour of the Advanced Manufacturing labs at Nash Community College. We were impressed by the great projects created by the students in the machine shop, and the very cool robotics lab. We also learned that welding students have the opportunity to participate in robotic welding as well!
