The Brunswick-Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce has partnered with Glynn County Public Schools to offer the Inaugural Connect Glynn Educator Externship Academy January 31 – February 2, 2022. The Externship structured academy is designed for educators to observe and interact with local companies while gaining real world industry experience from four major employers in Glynn County. As part of this professional development opportunity, educators worked with their team over three (3) consecutive days to complete the on-site requirement of the externship. Their time was split between the Golden Isles College + Career Academy (GICCA) and the company site.
During day one of the Academy, participants gathered at GICCA and met their team members, selected their company site, and heard from community leaders about the needs of our workforce. Days two and three participants spent on site with their select company. The local companies used during the academy were leading members of their industry: Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), King & Prince Seafood, Sea Island Companies, and Southeast Georgia Health System. Company experiences included meeting key leadership, learn about the mission and vision of the company, experiencing a company tour, and job shadowing of employees in in various areas of healthcare, marketing, food science, and management.
The Externship participants completed program evaluations following day three of program. The program received an overall superior evaluation from participants. Many participants shared positive feedback on the program. In a comment, a participant shared, “This experience has opened my eyes to the many opportunities that are available within my host company. I was able to determine ways that I can help my students develop the necessary skills to earn certain job positions. The collaboration between the school district and the community is significant to the success of our students and our local business force. This program is providing a phenomenal opportunity for this to happen.” While another participant stated, “I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I learned new ways to help my students become stronger employees and how to utilize recruiters in their job hunt. I feel I was able to share my knowledge about individuals with severe and profound needs to raise awareness about their capabilities and skills. This experience was truly amazing. I am very excited to help connect parents and families with our community!”
Each team will meet after the onsite experience to develop their Connect Glynn Portfolio, which will be presented to your externship peers and business leaders on March 14, 2022. Each team will work in small educator groups of 5 people to create a capstone project, a Connect Glynn Portfolio. Each team’s portfolio will feature a summary of the company they visited, an overview of at least four occupations at the company, information regarding higher education and/or post-high school training requirements for these occupations and demonstrate the link between the classroom to the world of work as it aligns to academic and employability skills. In return for their participation in the program, Glynn County Educators will receive a $500 grant for completing in August 2022 to be used to purchase supplies for career development lessons.
The Connect Glynn Educator Externship Academy is one of three ways the Brunswick-Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce has shown support to Glynn County Public Schools. The Chamber was a major sponsor for the annual Glynn County Teacher of the Year award reception and provided STEM equipment to all Glynn County Middle Schools directly impact 2,962 middle school-aged children in the Glynn County.
Ralph Staffins, President of the Brunswick Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce shared his excitement for the Connect Glynn Educator Externship Academy, “The teacher externship helps to bridge the gap between education, workforce development, and the industries they serve. One of the biggest issues is communication between education and business. This program directly impacts the businesses communication with teachers. Both educators and business leaders are now more connected than they ever have been before.”