First Ever Practical Life Skills Fair for BUHS Sophomores Held at Career Center
The Windham Regional Career Center and BDCC collaborated on our first-ever Practical Life Skills Fair for Brattleboro Union High School sophomores. The event, inspired by the Adulting 101 Experience from past Reality Fairs at Leland & Gray, helped students practice the skills we all wish we had learned before we graduated. It also exposed students to the Career Center as an educational pathway to pursue in their junior and senior years.
An incredible team effort went into this event and we wish to thank core team members Anne Doran, WRCC Guidance, Rhonda Winegarner, BUHS/WRCC Enrollment and Flexible Pathways Coordinator, Linda Alvarez, WRCC Business and Entrepreneurship Instructor, and Holly Hammond of VSAC for their contribution to a great day of learning and community-building! BDCC staff and volunteers from the community helped students explore some of key life skills like starting a small business and dressing professionally.
About Pipelines & Pathways
BDCC’s Pipelines and Pathways Program (P3) provides career education within the four southeastern Vermont public high schools and the Windham Regional Career Center. P3 helps students develop their personalized learning plans (PLP) by providing work-based learning experiences that increase their knowledge of career opportunities and achieve their postsecondary goals. Students develop soft skills, financial literacy, knowledge about economic sectors and skills that are in-demand through hands-on informational interviews, work-based learning, and mentorships. Pipelines & Pathways is a BDCC Workforce Center of Excellence program based on SeVEDS strategies to increase the size and quality of the region’s workforce. For more information please visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/engaging-with-high-school-students/
P3 was originally launched as a five year pilot, thanks to historic investment from the Vermont Community Foundation and McClure Foundation, the Vermont Training Program, WCEDP Vermont Yankee closure funds, and municipal contributions to SeVEDS. In 2023, at the end of that pilot phase, P3 reached a major program milestone by commitments from the private sector. M&T Bank, whose support was matched by local employers G.S. Precision and C&S Wholesale Grocers joins funding partners McClure Foundation, the George W. Mergens Foundation, the Windham Regional Career Center, the West River Education District, and the Windham Southwest Supervisory Union, in supporting P3 across southeastern Vermont. Portions of the program also receive support through the Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) program of the Northern Border Regional Commission.
