Paulding County Economic Development Press Release September 11, 2024
PAULDING– The two-star awarded Paulding County Business Advisory Council (BAC) Committee participated in their third quarter meeting this week. The meeting was moved to the Junior Leadership Building on the county fairground campus as remediation continues at the OSU Extension building.
Nineteen business leaders and educators introduced themselves and met to discuss the continued growth of the council and how it can benefit school, student, and business relationships in the future.
The highlight of the meeting was the introduction of data from the county-wide YouScience results. Over the past two years county students, at all three county schools, have participated in the YouScience aptitude assessment modules. YouScience modules are developed to help students understand what employment sector they most commonly align with, versus what they think they want to do after school. The contrast is eye-opening for many students and their teachers. The data was shared for 16 different business sectors including education, manufacturing, agriculture finance, and more. YouScience is funded through Vantage Career Center for all of their 13 participating schools.
“We were continually told by educational services groups that are ahead of us in these assessments, that the number one interest by students will be in education. Every student is familiar and aware of teachers and most think that is what they want to be. When the data came out it was spot on. 319 of the 711 students who completed the modules noted their interest in education. Only 99 students actually had an aptitude for education. There was more than a 3-1 ratio of students who do not have an aptitude for teaching “think” they should be in education. It proves that students relate to what they are exposed to. We have to make a concerted effort with our Paulding County students to introduce and expose them to other business sectors before they make college major choices or choose a business industry path that may not suit them at all,” explained Paulding County Economic Director Tim Copsey. “Introducing students to a variety of employment sectors available right out of high school, or after college, will help guide to them choices that benefit them down the road earlier and with less expense. That is our goal.”
The county schools all shared updates of innovative opportunities they are providing in their respective schools. Vantage Career Center also shared exciting new and updated information about school student and adult programming. It was also reported that during the 2023-24 school year a whopping 1853 credentials were issued. That was up 34% from the previous year. It was also shared that career center enrollment was up another 56 students this school year.
The important item of the meeting was that the new state required 2024-25 school year BAC template is due to Columbus before September 30. Schools and businesses are asked to submit any business-student activities that promote collaboration. All of the collective results will be submitted for review and graded in the two-to-four-star categories at the state level. Paulding County went from no rating in 2022-23 to a two-star rating last year. The hope is to maintain the two-star or improve again this school year.
The group will convene for their fourth quarter meeting December 11.
