Summer Collaboration (and Cookies) with Leland & Gray
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor lack of cookies will keep BDCC’s high school program P3 from creating new career programming to support our students. Okay – maybe lack of cookies. But thankfully, Harmonyville Store has plenty to offer to keep Terry Davison-Berger, Leland and Gray’s Flexible Pathways Coordinator, and Christy Betit, Pipelines and Pathways Manager, well-fed as they meet over the summer to plan the 2022/23 school year’s upcoming events.
Senior Survival will kick off in September for its third year, ensuring that every senior at Leland and Gray has a plan for postsecondary success on the day they cross the graduation stage in 2023.
This summer, Christy and Terry are working to identify and further develop lessons from Senior Survival that can be used at lower grade levels to help students identify a career pathway before their senior year begins. For example, personality tests, interest inventories, and goal mapping would be useful to eight graders and freshmen. Sophomores and juniors would benefit from worksite tours, job shadowing and learning how to ace an interview. By the time students reach their senior year, they will be ahead of the game and ready to snag that job or enter their freshman year of college with less anxiety and more confidence. With this foundation, more class time for seniors could be dedicated to life skills (adulting) topics requested by students, like financial literacy, cooking on a budget, understanding how to complete their taxes, change a tire, find an apartment, register to vote, or separate their whites from their dark laundry.
Another exciting development is that the P3 Reality Fair that was put on hold this past spring will now be taking place at L&G’s Dutton Hall and under a giant tent on the green. The Fair will include a Financial Literacy Experience and a Practical Life Skill Experience for juniors and seniors from across the county this October. Local businesses and volunteers will be on-hand for this day-long event that will include prizes, games, and an appearance by the Kona Ice Truck.
P3 Teacher Training curriculum is currently being developed with participation from L&G administrators and teachers. It provides a deep dive into the local economy with detailed information that enables educators to connect their expertise and subject matter with professional and post-secondary opportunities here in Windham County. The majority of this course will take place online but will conclude with worksite tours and speaker panels with businesses in our region that offer high-wage/high-growth career opportunities.
Terry and Christy will continue to plug away throughout the month of August, planning more classes and events to enrich the educational experience for all students, whether college or workforce-bound. School starts on August 31 – until then, savor the summer.
BDCC’s Pipelines and Pathways Program (P3) provides employment oriented career-planning for the region’s high school students. It brings training in 21st Century skills, work-based learning, and personal learning plan (PLP) engagement opportunities to all four public high schools in Windham County. The program assists in developing workforce-oriented curricula, expanding classroom relationships, and growing work-based learning through opportunities with local employers. It also supports teachers working face to face with students to implement personal learning plans and seize the myriad opportunities presented by Vermont’s Flexible Pathways Initiative under Act 77. Pipelines & Pathways is a BDCC Workforce Center of Excellence program based on SeVEDS strategies to increase the size and quality of the workforce. For more information please visit https://brattleborodevelopment.com/workforce/
Funding for P3 is provided by the McClure Foundation, Vermont Training Program, Vermont Community Foundation, the Windham County Economic Development Program, The Thomas Thompson Trust, the George W. Mergens Foundation, People’s United Bank, Tom Smith – Omega Optical, and Chroma Technology in Bellows Falls.
