The Paulding County Business Advisory Council (BAC) held their third quarter meeting this week. It was the first meeting since the 2023-24 school year began. The meeting was attended by 22 business leaders, 11 school representatives and 3 college representatives.
The highlight of the event was hearing from student Paulding High School Senior, Jay Estrada. Estrada shared with the council how he has received credentials in OSHA, blueprint reading and welding basics. He is currently working through a program, hosted at the school, that will educate and allow him to receive carpentry knowledge and credentials as he and fellow students build a shed together. Estrada shared how he loves the “hands on” aspect of this class, rather than just reading and lecture style learning. Estrada, a current McDonald’s employee, remarked how he hopes to use his earned credentials to enter the workforce right after graduation and noted that there should be more opportunities offered like this. Following his presentation, the attendees showed their appreciation of his presentation with a round of applause.
The meeting was hosted by the Paulding County Economic Development (PCED) office, however this was the first meeting that the agenda was established by a BAC Steering Committee consisting of business, school and college leaders in the county. Participants that wanted to participate on the committee met nearly one month ago to discuss agenda items and determine what would be presented on agenda for this meeting.
PCED Director Tim Copsey and Office Manager Kristen Schilt shared responsibilities in presenting the agenda items and aspects of business advisory history, objectives and new initiatives the group is trying to establish and bridge the communication gap between business and education.
Educators were asked to present to the group the current initiatives at their respective schools. Wayne Trace High School is working toward starting an E-Sports team this spring and developing their ART Technology class using many new machines and robotic in their STEAM Center. Antwerp Local School is working with equipment in their Innovation Center and utilizing the YouScience Student Assessment tool for eighth grade and eleventh grade students. The tool was funded for all three county schools through the Vantage Career Center. In addition to the carpentry and welding classes, Paulding High School continues to use the Panthers for Careers program to help high school students gain insight into business and industry around the county. Due to a smaller class size, the number of student participants this year is 25, slightly down from 33 last year.
Vantage Career Center shared that enrollment is again over 500 students participating from the 13 partner schools. Adult Director Angie Fahy talked about September being a TechCred sign-up month. TechCred is a program through the State of Ohio to reimburse businesses for upskilling their employees. Community college partner Northwest State told how they just received the number one ranking for community colleges in Ohio and can also help businesses sign up for training and TechCred. Copsey then shared about potential college partner collaboration through events on campus, including a recently attended meeting at Indiana Tech.
Schilt passed information to the group for the Defiance-Paulding County Ohio Means Jobs office. They have purchased multiple sets of virtual goggles that will be available to teachers and students in Defiance and Paulding Counties and also communicated how the PCED office will be funneling the open employment positions to the Ohio Means Jobs employment portal. Schilt closed out the meeting announcing the Paulding County Business, Industry and College Showcase date of April 4, 2024.
The group will reconvene with a steering committee meeting in November and a Q4 BAC meeting in December.
