Prep programs help Twin Valley, L&G students

WINDHAM COUNTY - This past semester, 16 Leland & Gray Union Middle and High School students and three Twin Valley Middle High School students earned a Windham Work Ready Credential by completing a semester-long career preparation intensive. The program was  designed and implemented by Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation’s Pipelines and Pathways Program (P3) for Twin Valley students and was created in close collaboration with Leland & Gray’s senior survival class.
Seniors at L&G take senior survival to complete their graduation requirements while TVMHS students enrolled in a voluntary pilot program. Only students who consistently demonstrated the skills and behaviors necessary to navigate the professional world received the credential, and marched at graduation with teal honor cords, denoting their achievement. TVMHS’s Janelle Fisher and Tanya Wheeler and L&G’s Dylan Greenwood also received the BDCC’s Windham Work Ready Scholarship for exemplifying the accountability, initiative, professionalism, positivity, and resilience needed to excel in the professional world.
Students started their journey in January with an overview of growing employment sectors in Windham County, throughout Vermont, and nationally. In addition to traditional four-year colleges, students learned about alternative pathways to postsecondary success, such as credentialing programs, community colleges, and jobs that offer tuition reimbursement. Students then explored their passions through interest inventories, research, and goal mapping. Throughout the course, they learned optimal practices for applications, resume writing, and interview preparation. They learned about professional body language, verbiage, and appearance (such as how to tie a tie), how to effectively resolve conflict, how to talk to a supervisor, and how taking initiative and being resilient can make the difference between success or failure on the job and in life.
During one of the course’s final challenges, students were paired with professionals connected to their field of interest for informational interviews. Students worked with employers from sectors like health care, civil engineering, law enforcement, marketing, software engineering, equine therapy, cosmetology, and the electrical trades, and had the opportunity to ask questions about what it is really like to be an employee in that profession.
P3 is a BDCC Workforce Center of Excellence program based on Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) to increase the size and quality of the workforce. The course was designed in response to local employers and college recruiters who identified the need for enhanced employability and soft skills among their new hires and freshman cohorts. They believe that a greater focus on improving these skills will increase the likelihood of young people making it through their probationary periods at work or their freshman year of college.
Senior survival will continue to be a required course at L&G next year, and P3 has leveraged the successes of the program at TVMHS to create a credit-bearing course offered to sophomores and juniors with their new entrepreneurship program.
For more information visit https://brattleborodevelopment.com/workforce/ and  www.seveds.com.

The Deerfield Valley News

797 VT Route 100 North
Wilmington, VT 05363

Phone: 802-464-3388
Fax: 802-464-7255

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