It is not just about graduating high school – it is about being set up for success after crossing the stage.
Berkeley County School District’s goal is make students both college and career-ready once they leave the district. Setting them up for a successful career means making sure they have the soft skills and work experience needed to land a job.
It takes a village, though – and that is where employers in Berkeley County come into play.
County and district officials, as well as local business leaders came out to Cypress Gardens on Thursday for the Berkeley County Economic Development Industry Luncheon. BCSD Superintendent Dr. Anthony Dixon was a featured speaker for the event, and led a discussion on how the school district is preparing its students for the workforce.
Dixon said by 2030, one of the district’s goals is to further increase the percentage of students who are college and career-ready by the time they graduate. The district aims to accomplish this through work-based learning classes, as well as community and business partnerships that can provide students with opportunities to apply their learning in a professional working environment.
BCSD offers an assortment of different Career and Technical Education (or CTE) majors throughout its schools. CTE provides high school students with leadership development and community service opportunities while preparing them for post-secondary education and careers. The types of CTE programs offered in each BCSD high school vary, but the 2023-2024 majors included courses pertaining to media technology, graphic communications, law enforcement services, welding, early childhood education and even hair braiding, among many other career fields.
“These are courses that fit the needs of every student that comes in our buildings,” Dixon said, adding that CTE courses combine academic and technical skills, and provides leadership opportunities through work-based learning.
To further ensure students’ success and preparedness, BCSD really wants students to become CTE program completers and/or earn an industry credential through internships and apprenticeships.
“These students go to competitions, they network with students across the country,” Dixon said. “All those experiences together make a student that is college and career-ready.”
Future Ready summer workshop
A major element in preparing students for the workforce is making sure they have the soft skills needed to land a job. BCSD has an upcoming program called the Future Ready summer workshop that aims to do just that.
The workshop is for rising 11th and 12th grade BCSD students and will be held June 3-27 (location to be determined). The workshop will provide students with opportunities to develop workplace skills through an intense soft skills training for two weeks, plus participation in a 40-hour internship with a local company/organization. Fill out application.
Help from employers
While BCSD offers the courses and the teachers, it also needs help from employers.
Employers can help in a number of ways – providing internship opportunities, participating in classroom instruction and/or activities and becoming a mentor.
Doing so would greatly impact BCSD’s students, and allow employers to make contact with potential candidates for part-time, summertime or even eventual full-time employment.
Interested employers can call BCSD’s Office of Career and Technical Education at 843-899-8308 or e-mail Sonya Addison-Stewart, BCSD’s Director of Career and Technical Education, at stewarts@bcsdschools.net.
