Keys To The Future

Keys To The Future

GRCCA trains students for jobs and gives businesses a boost

BY JEN CALHOUN

A few years back, a group of business and industry leaders approached local school systems with an issue: They had too many jobs and not enough skilled workers to fill them.

While it may sound like a good problem to have, it was still a problem. Without skilled employees, production and economic growth can slow. To solve the problem, local business leaders and educators worked together to develop Green River College & Career Academy, a vocational school that opened this fall on the campus of Hart County High School.

GAME CHANGER

The school is an expansion of the high school’s vocational program and the result of a partnership with the Caverna Independent Schools system. There are classes and certifications in everything from accounting to pre-nursing to diesel mechanics. Courses are currently open to high school students, but there will be classes for adults in 2020.

“I think it’s going to be a game changer for this community,” says Debbie Fowler, assistant superintendent of Hart County Schools and the administrator overseeing GRCCA. “It’s going to help locals get good, well-paying jobs without having to leave the region for training. It’s also going to help businesses recruit from a larger pool of skilled employees.”

The school offers six different pathways for students, including basic diesel mechanics, diagnostic diesel mechanics, accounting, administrative support, pharmaceutical tech training and pre-nursing. The first opportunities started during the 2017-18 school year at Caverna High School with the industrial maintenance program. A $182,000 Dart Foundation donation funded the equipment for that program.

Most of the pathways offer certifications, so students can jump right into the workforce or prepare themselves for community college and university courses. “Say a student wants to learn bookkeeping and payroll or accounting,” Fowler says. “They can take classes in that and get certified through GRCCA. But if they want, they can go on to college and get their accounting degree and test out of some of the courses because of the intensity of our program. It helps save money on college.” Night classes for adults will include certified nursing assistant certifications, a commercial driver’s license course, paramedic training and possibly an emergency management technician course. There might also be a lineman course in the future.

“The future for trades is very bright,” says Hart County Superintendent Nathan Smith. “Our students are going to get the relevant hands-on skills to step right into the job.”

Cary Barrett was selected as the coordinator for the GRCCA.

Whitney Choate will assist GRCCA students as the college and career coach.

BJ Crowley is the transportation instructor who will show students how to repair a diesel engine. It’s one of several vocational paths for students to choose from.

WORKING TOGETHER

Hart County Schools will fund instructors at the high school level. The school system also pays for any necessary equipment with the help of a Dart Foundation grant. For the building itself, the Hart County and Caverna Independent schools systems also worked together to get a $3.25 million grant from the Kentucky Workforce Development Cabinet, and the Hart County Industrial Authority and Hart County Fiscal Court contributed $854,000, Fowler says. Virginia Davis, Director of the Hart County Chamber of Commerce, helped obtain funding for equipment, too.

“That’s how much our community believes in this project,” Fowler says. “Everybody has come together, and it’s very much been a unifying project.”

MORE TO COME

Planning for the school continues to be a work in progress. Smith says the project has been huge, but things are coming together well. In May, the school system

was still working on getting staffing in place and equipment in the classrooms. School leaders are also working with local colleges to implement dual-credit courses in some of the disciplines, which will allow students to earn college credit for coursework.

“There’s been so much excitement and enthusiasm for this,” Smith says. “It’s been something we’ve needed and wanted for several years. Now it’s in the works, and our job is to make it happen and make it successful.”

Fowler agrees. “We’re very excited,” she says. “We’ve wanted this for a long time, and now it’s coming together.”

I think it’s going to be a game changer for this community. It’s going to help locals get good, well-paying jobs without having to leave the region for training. It’s also going to help businesses recruit from a larger pool of skilled employees.

— Debbie Fowler, assistant superintendent of Hart County Schools and the administrator overseeing Green River College & Career Academy