Welcome to Awake58! If you missed last week’s edition introducing our research and reporting on transfers, click here.
Happy Tuesday, y’all.
My colleague Molly Osborne and I visited Blue Ridge Community College a few months ago. We were able to experience their brewing program, visit the Henderson County Early College, and learn a whole lot about the Land of Sky localized attainment work.
We were also struck by the Made in Henderson Apprenticeship program, so Molly and Taylor Shain, one of our talented EdNC videographers, went back to document the program.
As Molly writes, the program is rooted in collaboration and meeting industry needs:
Representatives from Blue Ridge Community College, business, and industry worked together to create the curriculum and schedule for the program. The first cohort of 20 students started in the fall of 2019 and will complete the program after three semesters. Apprentices take classes one day a week at the college and work the other four days at the companies.
You often hear “earn while you learn” in connection with apprenticeship programs across the state. At the Made in Henderson County program, companies pay apprentices both for the time they spend in class in addition to the time they work at the companies.
For more on the program, including thoughts on the success of the work so far, check out Molly’s story:
If you have thoughts on apprenticeships, please let us know. We would also love to hear more about what’s happening in your region to close the skills gap. Please let us know by replying directly to this email.
Our team will be at Haywood Community College later in the week. If you are there, tell them hello.
#loveNC,
Nation
Director of Growth, EdNC.org
PS – We have covered the Real College conversation both nationally and in North Carolina, but I wanted to make note that the latest Real College report was just released. I’d love to learn more about your own work on the issue on your campus.
Lisa Chapman and Dale McInnis share their proposed reforms for the transfer process
Our team did an enormous amount of reporting and also curated other organizations’ research throughout a week-long series on North Carolina’s transfer process recently.
Presidents Lisa Chapman and Dale McInnis weighed in with their suggestions for the process. You can find Chapman’s piece here and McInnis’ piece here.
McInnis, at Richmond Community College, raised many key points, including the peril of too many exceptions in course credits happening at the departmental or school level of the university, the need for improved advising on community college campuses, and the need for colleges to extend their relationship with transfer students even after they leave campus.
Another point he made relates to something I’ve heard at a variety of colleges during my travel: “Early college graduates, legally required to have the option of applying as a freshman or transfer student, continue to be steered towards the freshman route by university admission offices.”
Chapman, now president at Central Carolina, was a leader in revision of the state’s Comprehensive Articulation Agreement in 2014. Her perspective zeroes in on her concern that “one additional challenge that still remains for our community college transfers that can make their experience less seamless than the students who complete their entire pathway at one institution is that there are differences in coursework for the same bachelor’s degree offered at different four-year institutions. Any transfer student applying to more than one four-year institution must prepare for those differences.”
To check out Chapman’s proposed tweaks to address this challenge, read her perspective.
Durham Tech and Duke Energy: Training the lineworkers of the future
The U.S. Department of Labor in 2016 estimated there would be a 15% increase in electrical lineworker jobs over the next 10 years. Here in North Carolina, Duke Energy has made a series of grants to address that, including a grant for Durham Tech to fund a specific pre-apprenticeship program that would meet workforce needs and support students who want lineworker jobs.
My colleague Caroline Parker visited Durham Tech’s program and spent a big chunk of the day with the faculty member who leads it. I, for one, loved her lede: “Michael Stutts was 23 years old when he took a job as a lineworker at Duke Energy. More than two decades later, he is still helping people turn the lights on — but now it is by teaching a new generation to do so as an instructor with Durham Tech’s Electrical Line Technician program.”
For the full story, click here.
Coronavirus preparation in North Carolina schools: Here’s what to know
On March 3, Gov. Roy Cooper gave an emergency management briefing after he announced there had been one presumptive positive COVID-19 case in North Carolina. The patient, a Wake County resident, had returned from a visit to the state of Washington and had been exposed at a long-term care facility there.
Our team will continue to update this story as new details emerge. If you have questions, check out our Reach NC Voices survey embedded at the bottom of the story.
Around North Carolina
The North Carolina primary unfolded one week ago. If you are curious about the results, here’s our report.
We encourage you to check out our piece on the census in 2020. Our early childhood reporter, Liz Bell, explains why it matters so much that children are counted. Consider sharing her report with your friends, family, and students.
The Salisbury Post reports: “Voters on Tuesday said “yes” to a $45 million bond referendum that will provide funding Rowan-Cabarrus Community College needs to expand several of its programs and build a complex of new buildings.”
Cape Fear Community College’s course offerings around beer have also been in the news lately.
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