Giving school students a chance to explore a variety of career options, besides college, is the purpose of the Virginia career and technical education forums.
Susan Long-Molnar with Managing Communications founded and organized the forums. She is serving a three-year term on the Virginia Advisory Committee for Career & Technical Education and is the workforce/education chair on the Hampton Roads Chamber Norfolk board. She conducted two forums, one in South Hampton Roads and another on the Peninsula, with the ultimate goal of connecting local businesses to career counselors to introduce students to careers they may not be aware of, she said.
“There are hundreds of high school juniors and seniors who have no idea how many skilled technical careers are available in our area,” Long-Molnar said.
At the same time, local industry employers, such as Newport News Shipbuilding, have continuing needs for skilled workers.
In order to offer students an opportunity to see various industries at work, businesses are needed to offer students opportunities to understand skilled trade careers with job shadowing, internships, externships and group visits, Long-Molnar said.
Each forum brought together about 100 people in education and various industries to develop work-based learning opportunities for high school students.
She decided to organize the forums in 2022 after serving one year on the state advisory committee. She realized there was little conversation between businesses, high schools, workforce development leaders and colleges, she said.
“I wanted to do something besides advise. I saw a need for there to be much more communication between businesses and education/workforce professionals,” Long-Molnar said. “Additionally, we must try to still support the high school students who have not determined a career path or the immense opportunities we have for them in our region.”
The first two forums were very successful and led to new or expanded initiatives, especially to support the career and technical education specialist for the Tidewater region, she said.
Gene Thompson is fleet director of Day and Zimmermann, a company that supports Dominion Energy’s nuclear power stations in Virginia and South Carolina. After attending both forums, he understood the focus of relationship-building between school systems and industries that employ skilled workers.
“We all share a common goal of developing the next generation of skilled workers to fill well-paying jobs in our communities that become careers,” Thompson said.
One forum resulted in a four-day nuclear careers orientation at Surry Power Station for high school seniors and a nuclear worker training program targeted at the underemployed and unemployed people in Surry and surrounding counties, he said.
The next forum for South Hampton Roads will be in the spring with the Peninsula forum scheduled for October. There are also plans for a Fairfax County forum in the near future. A bimonthly e-newsletter with updates from the attendees and dates of upcoming events is available.
Companies of all industries and sizes are being recruited. The main industry areas of focus are health care, hospitality, technology, manufacturing, transportation and construction.
“The list seems to be growing,” she said.
Businesses interested in learning more should contact Susan Long-Molnar at 757-513-8633 or susan@managingcommunications.com.
