Ensuring
Student Success
West Virginia’s Unique Programs
COMPILED BY JENNIFER JETT PREZKOP
West Virginia’s higher education institutions have a great responsibility. They are tasked with educating West Virginians of
all ages and skill levels, ensuring the state has a highly skilled workforce for all industries. Success requires more than just a
focus on curriculum, however. Colleges and universities must meet the needs of the students by offering 21st century learning
paths, preparing them for tomorrow’s jobs and ensuring they have the resources necessary for degree completion while also
meeting the needs of the local business community through programs that will attract new businesses to the state.
During West Virginia Executive magazine’s 2019 statewide college campus tour, institutions around the state shared their
unique programs that prepare students to be successful in popular entrepreneurial endeavors like building and running food
trucks, one-of-a-kind careers like zoo sciences and fields in short supply of a workforce like risk management. Other schools
are focused on meeting students’ financial and learning needs to ensure degree completion. Here we take a look at nine unique
programs around the state that are setting up West Virginia’s students for success.
Preparing Food Truck Entrepreneurs
BY DR. PETER SOSCIA. Beginning with the
spring 2020 semester, students at Bridge
Valley Community & Technical College
will be able to choose building and op-
erating a food truck as a unique focus
project. Participants from all of the col-
lege’s programs—including business,
legal, creative entrepreneurship, fabrica-
tion arts, engineering and hospitality and
culinary—will participate in this creative
learning model.
The food truck project will fuse together
curriculum to promote collaboration be-
tween programs of study at BridgeValley
as well as between students and the local
community. It will also cultivate a sense
of innovation and local entrepreneurial
spirit and better prepare students, creating
a highly skilled workforce to help develop
the local economy.
“Business students will develop the
marketing plans, our fabrication arts stu-
dents will build the truck, our culinary
students will develop menus and pro-
vide delicious food, and our hospitality
students will plan fantastic community-
centered events that help everyone enjoy
all the great things our students do,” says
Kelly Grose, the dean of business, legal,
creative entrepreneurship and technical
studies at BridgeValley.
Each food truck project is anticipated to
take two years to finish. Upon completion,
the food trucks will be used in various
events at The GRID, BridgeValley’s business
accelerator and makerspace in Montgom-
ery, and other community events to cele-
brate and use the end product.
“The food truck program enhances
our current curriculum and provides stu-
dents with real-world experience and the
ability to see how their individual work
contributes to the final product,” says
BridgeValley President Dr. Eunice Bellinger.
“We want to celebrate the students com-
pleting the food trucks through various
fun, local events so everyone benefits
from their work.”
WWW.WVEXECUTIVE.COM
FALL 2019
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