District focuses on early career planning

Wickliffe students as young as 9 years old already are thinking about college and career pathways.

In an effort to ensure that students are prepared for life after high school, Wickliffe Schools implemented the Ten Year Plan, which provides students opportunities and experiences for academic and career planning.

The program is designed for students in fourth through 12th grade.

Wickliffe Schools Director of Strategic Innovation Julie Ramos said the plan is to have students meet regularly with school counselors to explore opportunities after graduation; visit businesses, colleges, nonprofits and health care facilities; attend professional speakers’ series; interact

with professionals in a wide variety of careers; and receive job shadowing experiences and internships.

Volunteers are needed for the professional speakers’ series,

“With that being said, you are invited to share your personal experiences in any of the combination of the following: education beyond high school, your career path, your position description, your day-to-day responsibilities, as well as the future of your industry,” Ramos said. ”We are asking for volunteers to take 10 to 15 minutes to share some of these experiences with the students. We are looking for any career to be discussed. With your help, we can introduce students to a multitude of possible careers. The possibilities are endless and students’ futures are limitless.”

The professional speakers’ series is for middle and high school students.

“The Ten Year Plan is used as a model for a larger partnership,” she said. “Over the past two years, representatives from the manufacturing sector, K-12 education and higher education have been working collaboratively to form a partnership to improve career and workforce development in Lake and Geauga counties.”

It is a career and workforce development program created to address the workforce needs and serve as a catalyst to economic prosperity in both counties.

Manufacturing has been identified as a major workforce need i n Lake and Geauga counties.

The partners include all Lake and Geauga public school districts, the Alliance for Working Together, the Manufacturing Advocacy Growth Network, the Geauga Growth Partnership and Lakeland Community College.

Programs and services are available to students, school staff and community members.

“Rather than 15 distinct school districts trying to

coordinate career development efforts, this project creates a collaborative, well-coordinated effort,” Ramos said. “Further, the project will bring coordination and organization to the manufacturing and the business sector.

“This model creates an efficient and effective process through which students gain experiences, manufacturers can attract future employees and schools can create opportunities. This project tears down the silos in which organizations live and creates an environment in which collaboration and partnerships are the norm rather than the exception.”

NEXTWORK is an example of how this type of collaboration benefits students.

It is a project to furnish quality job opportunities to its students by providing exposure, training and life skills required to be successful in a manufacturing environment, while helping to sustain and expand manufacturing in Lake and Geauga counties.

The goal is to create a

standard process to build awareness of manufacturing careers, opportunities for students to experience all aspects of the manufacturing industry and a collaborative environment in which the leaders of the manufacturing community work with the leaders in K-12 education to establish programming that best meets the needs of both organizations.

The project also assists the manufacturing sector in finding qualified candidates and filling job openings.

According to Ramos, NEXTWORK has received funding from the state of Ohio, the Cleveland Foundation and other smaller organizations and is developing a web-based portal to manage communication and opportunities for all of its participants, including businesses, schools, students and adults.

There has been a greater push to ensure that students are prepared for postsecondary success and area school districts are using various college and career resources.