said Marques Young, a Unilever maintenance manager and liaison to CHS. They’ve travelled as far away
as St. Louis to make hires.
Mr. Young, a CHS alumnus, said discussion of this
problem with Mr. Heaston led to a “perfect synergy
of time, place, and need.” Now CHS and Unilever
have partnered in several meaningful ways for students, including through a unique course delivered
in collaboration with Dyersburg State Community
College (DSCC). The course offers a select group of
students a direct pipeline to job opportunities with
Unilever after completing high school, delivered
through classes that provide skills and certifications
desired by other manufacturers as well. Everyone
wins, said Mr. Young.
“If we’re operating as a high-level high
school, we need to make sure kids truly are
college- and career-ready,” said Principal
Marcus Heaston. “We can end a generation
of poverty if we do this the right way.
“We’re creating a good, solid pipeline of talent,” Mr.
Heaston said. “Students have every potential career path available, from marketing and accounting
to front line supervision. The entire supply chain
network has many opportunities. It all comes back to
exposure. If you’re not exposed to it, you don’t know
it exists.”
The four-module Certified Production Technician
course, developed and delivered in full partnership
with Unilever, offers students at CHS and other
area high schools internship opportunities and
experience with equipment used by Unilever. After
graduation, students are qualified for jobs offering
significantly higher wages and better benefits than
a high school diploma alone could earn elsewhere,
said Philip Newman, a DSCC instructor of the course.
“We can find jobs for them, because companies are
hunting,” Mr. Newman said.
The program served 15 students in its first year, and
30 students in its second, the 2014-15 school year.
Students qualify for the course based on their scores
on the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC)
exam, a required step for many jobs in the manufacturing sector. This school year, 91 CHS students took
the test in hopes of scoring high enough to secure
one of the seats in next year’s program.
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