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Mock Interviewers & Summer Internship Hosts Needed
IALR is facilitating summer internships as well as springtime mock interview events for high school students. Participating employers are being actively recruited for these opportunities with funding available to support intern stipends. The events are part of IALR’s new system framework, known as ExperienceWorks and supported by GO Virginia.
Mock interviewers, committing just 1.5 hours of time or more, are needed for three AspHIRE Mock Interview Day events on April 27-28 in Danville and South Boston, and May 4-5 in Martinsville. Graduating seniors and select juniors are provided an opportunity to hone their interview skills and take part in a formal business lunch and six work-readiness sessions. Interested businesses should contact jessie.vernon@ialr.org by April 13.
IALR is also seeking businesses to host paid internships starting in June 2022. Highly successful last summer, the programs in Danville and Pittsylvania County are expanding, along with internship opportunities throughout GO Virginia Region 3.
The City of Danville and Pittsylvania County are seeking businesses to host summer youth interns like Blake Bowen and Emma Mayhew who earned skills and a stipend last year.
“It helps you learn people skills and what you want to do in the future,” said Nevea Russell, a Galileo Magnet High School student, of her internship last summer with Danville’s Parks and Recreation department. Other employers last year included other local government offices, the Animal Medical Center of Danville and the Danville Science Center among others.
Interns will work for six to eight weeks at 32-40 hours per week. Businesses have the ability to customize the internship to fit their needs. Interested companies and organizations should contact dana.wilson@ialr.org as soon as possible.
IALR Awarded Over $581,000 from GO Virginia and the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission to Support Work-Based Learning
The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) was recently awarded over $581,000 to lead ExperienceWorks, a work-based learning (WBL) system that leverages GO Virginia Region 3 and Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission (TRRC) investments. The system connects students and young adults to high-skill, high-wage employment opportunities through a variety of career development and WBL opportunities.
“We are grateful for these investments supporting robust public and private partnerships that are required to launch the ExperienceWorks framework,” said Dr. Julie Brown, Director of Advanced Learning at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR). “ExperienceWorks aligns existing career development programs and adds capacity, providing multiple opportunities for employers to engage with students and offer hands-on, career-relevant learning and mentoring.” Brown adds, “The participating school divisions are excited about this opportunity to continue collaborating on programs which benefit their students, faculty, and the region’s business community. We’re thankful that the GO Virginia Region 3 Council, the GO Virginia State Board, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission recognized and endorsed their efforts.”
Randy Lail, Chair, GO Virginia Region 3, stated, “ExperienceWorks provides targeted industries with skilled employees for high-wage, high-skill jobs to position their companies for growth and will significantly advance the Region 3 Council’s priorities.” GO Virginia Region 3 per capita funds will support 50 percent of the cost for an Internship Coordinator as well as paid internships, work-readiness bootcamps, and teacher externships.
The TRRC grant funds will support 50 percent of an Apprenticeship Coordinator position adding capacity for employer outreach and developing apprenticeship positions in partnership with regional employers. Tobacco Commission member, Dr. Alexis Ehrhardt said, “Apprenticeship and job readiness programs have long been an area of focus for the Tobacco Commission and I am glad the Commission chose to support this program at IALR. The ExperienceWorks program will be a real asset to our region by providing opportunities for students to engage directly with leading businesses in their chosen field. I am confident this will result in increased employment opportunities for our students and allow our local businesses to hire for many hard to fill positions.”
The mission is to scale WBL efforts, allowing 100 percent of high school graduates to access a high-quality WBL experience and create a sustained pathway that connects employers to their emerging workforce. This initiative is targeted to high school juniors and seniors and is designed to create a culture of understanding that internships and apprenticeships are for everyone, with a clear benefit for employers and job seekers.
ExperienceWorks goals include: increased student awareness of career opportunities in strategic industry sectors; improved student and young adult work readiness skills aligned with business expectations; meaningful work experiences for students and young adults in strategic sectors; increased teacher and counselor awareness of careers and business needs; and a work-based learning system that is sustained and supported by employers, local government and economic development. According to Brown, “Establishing connections with students while they are still in high school will allow businesses to access an emerging workforce and provide mentorship, increasing the number of high school graduates who are connected to employment opportunities in targeted growth sectors.”
Participating K12 divisions include: Amelia, Brunswick, Charlotte, Cumberland, Danville, Halifax, Henry, Lunenburg, Martinsville, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Patrick, Pittsylvania, and Prince Edward. For more information about ExperienceWorks, contact Jessie Vernon at jessie.vernon@ialr.org or 434-766-6772.
This project was funded in part by GO Virginia, a state-funded initiative administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) that strengthens and diversifies Virginia’s economy and fosters the creation of higher wage jobs in strategic industries. GO Virginia is a statewide business-led economic development initiative with funding to invest in collaborative projects that lead to high-paying jobs in each region. The mission of GO Virginia is to encourage collaboration among business, education, and government in each region. GO Virginia Region 3 is one of nine regions in Virginia and includes the Counties of Amelia, Brunswick, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Halifax, Henry, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Patrick, Pittsylvania and Prince Edward and the Cities of Danville and Martinsville. For more information, please visit govirginia3.org and sign up for the Region 3 monthly newsletter or connect with GO Virginia Region 3 on Facebook or LinkedIn
The Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission is a 28-member body created by the 1999 General Assembly. Its mission is the promotion of economic growth and development in formerly tobacco-dependent communities, using proceeds of the national tobacco settlement.
Students at the 2019 Career ChoICE Youth Expo visit the booth of Sartomer (Chatham), a division of Arkema Inc., for a hands-on introduction to careers in advanced materials and chemical manufacturing. The Expo exposes youth to the 17 career clusters, and it serves as one component of the newly funded ExperienceWorks work-based learning system framework to be led by the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.
Students Complete Internships
Thanks to the MajorClarity work-based learning initiative funded by GO Virginia, IALR joined Goodwill Industries and Danville Public Schools to support the launch of a summer internship program with the City of Danville. IALR also joined Pittsylvania County Community Action, the West Piedmont Workforce Development Board and Pittsylvania County Schools to support a similar summer internship program in Pittsylvania County.
The City of Danville hosted 27 Danville Public Schools students and Pittsylvania County hosted 15 Pittsylvania County Schools students. Their internships were eight weeks long and offered stipends and valuable work-based learning experience. For example, during the eight-week program, Pittsylvania County students had the opportunity to work across several departments with Pittsylvania County Schools, as well as with Pittsylvania County Parks and Recreation, the Pittsylvania Pet Center, Information Technology, Public Relations, Finance, and Community Development. Students wrote biographies of staff and drafted social media posts, helped customers, visited construction sites, and conducted important research. The students also had the opportunity to attend a groundbreaking event for Staunton River Plastics where they met Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (see photo). 
“Work-based learning opportunities, specifically internships, are critical experiences that connect students and young adults to career opportunities and create relevance aligned with their academic experience,” said Julie Brown, Director of Advanced Learning at IALR. “Paid internships are an investment by our local governments and employers as a key strategy to support regional talent development efforts.”
All 15 K-12 school divisions in GO Virginia Region 3 have adopted MajorClarity as their work-based learning platform. IALR led the adoption of this common digital platform to enhance students’ career development and increase employer engagement in work-based learning. 26,000 students in grades 6-12 now have access to MajorClarity to explore and prepare for career fields, plan and select academic classes and training programs, identify work-based learning opportunities, and track and improve career readiness and awareness. The county and city internship programs integrated MajorClarity as part of the application process.
IALR October 2020 Newsletter
