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Friday, Mar. 29, 2024

VWHS CEO program going countywide

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

A program aimed at providing Van Wert High School students with more local career opportunities is now going countywide.

Superintendents from the four Van Wert County schools chat following Thursday morning’s Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce coffee session. Shown are (from the left) Crestview Superintendent Mike Estes, Vantage Superintendent Rick Turner, Lincolnview Superintendent Jeff Snyder, and Van Wert Superintendent Staci Kaufman. photo provided

The announcement came at Thursday’s Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce Coffee program that Lincolnview, Crestview, and Vantage Career Center would be joining the CEO (Career Education Opportunity) program started last year at VWHS by guidance counselor Kerry Koontz.

Koontz, with support from former Van Wert superintendent Ken Amstutz, VWHS Principal Bob Priest, and Assistant to the Superintendent Bill Clifton, began the program to provide VWHS seniors with internship and other opportunities at local businesses. Sixth-graders also currently get exposure to career education when they are given Ohio Means Jobs accounts at Van Wert Middle School.

Koontz noted he had seen a paradigm shift in workforce needs in the area as Baby Boomers retired and good-paying jobs were going unfilled because too many high school graduates were leaving the area for college and technical schools and not returning.

“Talking to employers, I sense there is a need for this new generation of workers,” Koontz said during a kick-off for the program.

He also noted, though, that the CEO Program centered on career choices, rather than on just getting a job, adding that local companies are willing to make a financial commitment to get good employees.

Currently, the program encompasses two school periods a day that students spend on internships at local companies and receive high school credit for doing so. It also provides information on a variety of career options, including educational courses required, job availability, and starting salaries.

Companies that participated in the first year include Alliance Automation, Calvary Preschool, Central Mutual Insurance Company, Custom Audio Concepts, KAM Manufacturing, CQT Kennedy Manufacturing, National Door and Trim, Northwest Trophy and Screen Printing, Vancrest Health Care Center, Van Wert Manor, and Van Wert County Hospital’s Wellness Therapy Solutions.

A total of 17 students made it through the program in its first year at VWHS, with both students and employers noting they were pleased with how the program worked.

As part of the program, students have to create resumes and undergo job interviews to obtain an internship at participating companies.

The CEO program kick-off in August 2017 featured Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Stacy Adam, who noted that, while 7 million people were unemployed nationally, 5 million U.S. jobs go unfilled because workers don’t have the necessary skills to do the jobs.

“It is programs exactly like this that have the ability to give Van Wert an edge, to meet the business needs for the workforce they are demanding,” she added.

Koontz has been working with guidance counselors in the other three schools to set up the CEO program in each school in the county. Superintendents from all four schools attended the Chamber coffee to talk about the program.

While career education is relatively new at the three county high schools, Vantage Career Center has been doing career education since it opened in the mid-1970s. Now, Vantage will join the other three schools in a unified effort to provide more workers for local employers in a variety of career categories.

Also, while the program is currently for high school seniors only, Koontz said that it is likely to expand to other grades as the program matures.

POSTED: 02/16/18 at 8:56 am. FILED UNDER: News