Brake, superintendent of Owensboro Public Schools. “The Community Campus is part of Project Lead the Way, which is skill-based. Skill-based learning really brings to life college- and career-readiness.” Business, industry partners provide real-life experiences Community Campus originated with the Regional Alliance for Education, which is the framework for secondary and postsecondary education and business and community leaders to interface in a “classic model of business-education round table,” Brake said. Marcia Carpenter, the director of Community Campus, said the goal of the regional education alliance is to prepare students with the skills they need for tomorrow’s jobs. The “soft skills certification” now available at area high schools evolved from conversations between business and education representatives at alliance meetings. Those classes teach students how and why employers value employees who show up for work on
Century Aluminum's Hawesville smelter has been visited by students and educators participating in business and industry site visits hosted by the Regional Alliance for Education.
time, work as team members and solve problems, Carpenter said. The alliance hosts business and industry site visits for educators and students. Students and educators have visited U.S. Bank, Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, Metalsa, Century Aluminum and the skills-based training programs at OCTC’s Southeastern Campus, she said. “The foundation for Community Campus includes personalized, project-based learning as well
as team-building and problemsolving,” Carpenter said. “The ‘teacher’ assumes a facilitator role, and the learning environment mimics the workplace. Community Campus is a vehicle for channeling students into high demand skillsbased jobs.” School districts and colleges share instructors and laboratory resources for skills-based job training, she said. “Students from five school districts have an opportunity to prepare for high-demand health care and engineering jobs and received early college credit beginning in ninth grade,” Carpenter said. The business partners host hands-on field trip opportunities, serve as in-class experts and provide internships for the junior and senior years. Students make valuable connections MPD is one of the best industries in the region for providing handson opportunities to high school and college students, Yeiser said. Job shadowing in high school can lead to internships, he said. “And those students are first in line for jobs when they graduate from college,” he said. Yeiser’s students also have benefited from other business and industry partnerships including Modern Welding and THA/Tony Huff & Associates, an Owensboro engineering firm. About 50 students — freshmen and sophomores — are enrolled in the Life Science Academy based at Owensboro Community & Technical College. Recruitment at area middle schools for the next freshman class
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