Henrico Schools earns 2022 VSBA Excellence in Workforce Readiness Award
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Henrico Schools recently earned the 2022 VSBA Excellence in Workforce Readiness Award for school divisions with more than 10,001 students for its “Henrico Way Program.”
The award recognizes divisions that have achieved excellence in workforce readiness through innovative programs or projects that emphasize communication and collaboration with the business community; student engagement with the business community; or student entrepreneurial activities.
The Henrico Schools’ Department of Workforce and Career Development's focus is to prepare students for future success in post-secondary education and the world of work. The programs strive to help bring academics and work-based learning experiences together. Work-based learning experiences enable students to apply classroom instruction in a real-world business environment and assist students with the transition from the classroom to the workplace. Students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes are enhanced by participation in supervised, authentic experiences, according to school system officials.
The department began a partnership with Henrico County government to develop the County Manager’s Summer Academy for Workforce and Career Development, a summer internship program that placed students in various county workplace environments to develop and practice career-related knowledge based on student interest, developing skillset, and goals.
The primary objective of the program was to provide Henrico County Public Schools students at its two Advanced Career Education Centers an opportunity to participate in a nine-week paid internship program with Henrico County between their junior and senior years.
The application process was open to all ACE Center juniors who had completed part 1 of their ACE program, their OSHA-10 certification and their Workplace Readiness Skills certification. Applicants were not chosen for their academic performance but rather for their interest to participate and their willingness to learn during the work-based learning experience.
By focusing on students’ passions instead of their grades, officials sought to remove a barrier to learning by providing a connection to what was being taught through relevance and interest to the learner.
A secondary objective of the program was to provide students with a better understanding of not only the world of work, but of Henrico County specifically, with the goal of intriguing some about the potential of working for the county in the future.
