The third annual Paulding County “Teacher Boot Camp” event completed here recently. The week culminated with the educators sharing their required presentations to their peers and an adjunct professor through Western Buckeye Educational Service Center (ESC) with Ashland University. This year nine Paulding County educators participated in the program.
The educators received CEU credit through Ashland University for their participation. This includes a final presentation of a lesson plan that will incorporate the knowledge learned into future classroom curriculum. The hope for all is that students might be better matched in the future with local employers, which is a win-win for the county.
This collaboration project, is a product of Western Buckeye ESC, Ashland University, and the Paulding County Economic Development office. Lt. Governor Jon Husted is a great supporter of the program that is designed to help bridge the gap between what educators are sharing with students about workforce and college opportunities, and what high school graduates may experience once they get out into the business world. In providing this opportunity to the educators, it may help them better prepare students by being able to comprehend how bookwork and soft skills exercises learned in the classroom will pertain to the student’s real-life experiences after high school.
“For a third consecutive year this program has been inspirational for Paulding County. The in-depth communication, and discussion shared between our educators and our business leaders is game changing. The knowledge gained on both sides, as we make these connections, share struggles, and collaborate on new outcomes to try, is truly enlightening. It is heart-warming to watch the educators gain knowledge about products manufactured here locally, and how the employees, some even former students, develop these products. Paulding County provides unique products to the state, region, national, and even international markets. It makes you proud every time you hear these historic business stories, but it really hits home when you hear the educator presentations and what they learned about the history and manufacturing methods of today,” explained Tim Copsey, Director, Paulding County Economic Development.
Business leaders that presented to the group this year included: Commissioner Chairman Mike Weible; OSU Extension Emma Horstman; Brad Harsha with First Financial Bank; Megan Sierra with PC Workshop; Foundations Behavioral Director Jackie Carr; PC Foundation Director Lisa McClure; Sheriff Jason landers; Tiffany Rockhold with Paulding/Defiance County OMJ office; Lisa Becher with the State of Ohio Small Business Development office; and Eric Davis with Wessler Engineering.
Industry partners that participated this year included: all three county school systems; Paragon Tempered Glass; Paulding Village Water Department; PC Hospital; North American Stamping Group; Cooper Farms; Baughman Tile; Vantage Career Center; and Mercer Landmark. Mercer also allowed the quarterly county Business Advisory Council meeting to be held on site.
One of this year’s education participants summarized the event, “I drive by some of the businesses/factories we visited on a regular basis; and I had no idea what was going on inside their buildings…what was being produced, how many employees they had, what skills were being utilized, or the variety of levels of training/education needed to run the entire facility. There truly is a place in our work force for all types of careers, skills, and education here in Paulding County!”
