Last Wednesday, a panel of Arvada high school students spoke to the business community about their workforce preparation, career goals, and expectations from future employers at the Arvada Works Quarterly Summit. The summit, hosted at Thrive Workplace - West Arvada, brought together a diverse set of students from Arvada High and Arvada West who participate in work-based learning programs to explore and prepare for a career prior to graduation.
Outside of the traditional high school classroom, these students engage in programs like Career Explore, Colorado Homebuilding Academy, and Warren Tech that connect high school students to real-world workforce training and internship opportunities. Now following graduation, the panel of students has aspirations of entering career pathways in a variety of fields: culinary arts, construction, biology, photography, and forensic science.
6 Employer Aha Moments From the Works Summit
- Education and workforce advocates are critical for student success.
- Students need more hands-on education and experience.
- Finding a career that a student is passionate about is often more important than salary.
- Students need opportunities (and allowance) to fail.
- The local workforce should explore more opportunities for part-time work.
- Local businesses need to be better informed of current programs in schools that help meet their talent pipeline needs.