VGCC partnering with high schools on manufacturing career training
Vance-Granville Community College, in partnership with Franklin County Schools , has received a total of $70,000 in “NCWorks CTE Career Pathways” grants over the past two years to support advanced manufacturing-related training that connects high schools, the college and industry partners.
Grants were awarded to 20 colleges, including VGCC, by the State Board of Community Colleges. This competitive grant was made possible by federal funds under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act.
The grant funding supports a “Manufacturing Careers Pathways Project,” which provides VGCC and high school Career & Technical Education (CTE) students with hands-on training in electronics, welding, electricity, electrical motor and industrial controls, fluid power, PLC troubleshooting, electrical power systems, mechanical drive systems and renewable energy systems. Such technical skills have been identified as essential to local industries. This project began with high schools in Franklin County, and VGCC is now preparing to expand the initiative to Vance and Granville counties.
A part-time coordinator position for the project is funded by the grant. Nancy Price, a familiar face from her years as a counselor at VGCC’s Franklin County Campus, fills that role. “I have been gathering information and networking with counselors, CTE directors and teachers from Franklin, Granville, and Vance counties to help advance the pathways in advanced manufacturing,” Price said. “Stephanie Ayers, project manager of the Advanced Manufacturing Skills Training Alliance , and I have made several presentations to local high school students.”
Ayers added, “We are describing for students how they can use these pathways to take their high school classes, transfer credits into VGCC and obtain certain certificates, diplomas or degrees.” She said there are already some high school CTE courses that “articulate,” or transfer credits, into similar programs at the college level, and officials are working to establish more of those arrangements. There are also pathways through the Career and College Promise (CCP) program that allow eligible high school students to take actual college courses in programs like Robotics and Machine Design.
Currently, VGCC Engineering Technologies program head/instructor Wesley Williams is teaching “Circuit Analysis I” through CCP to Bunn High School students on their campus. That partnership can serve as a model for other schools, Ayers said.
Meanwhile, according to Franklin County CTE Director Laureen Jones, Bunn High School also currently offers two sections of Drafting I Engineering and Franklinton High School offered Advanced Manufacturing I last semester, all through the pathways project. "We are very excited about offering these courses in our district,” Jones said. Students in Advanced Manufacturing have said that the course gave them a boost in planning for their futures.
The state’s Career Pathways initiative is designed to create programs of study involving partnerships of high schools and community colleges, providing the students with skills needed in high-demand occupations. By connecting K-12 schools, the college and other partners, Career Pathways meet the needs of students and employers through a clear sequence of academic, technical and work-based learning.
For more information about the Manufacturing Careers Pathways Project, contact Laureen Jones at (919) 496-2600 or Nancy Price at (919) 496-1567.
Above: VGCC Engineering Technologies program head/instructor Wesley Williams, standing at left, teaches a college-level Circuit Analysis course to students at Bunn High School. The class was made possible by a grant received by the college, in partnership with the Franklin County school system.
Related Programs: Electronics Engineering and Mechatronics Engineering Technology
