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8th grader Charly Plinski learns to climb a utility pole with Chelan County PUD lineman Brandon Hughes as part of Wenatchee Learns Connect's Pizza Pop and Power Tools program to connect girls to non-traditionally female jobs.
The Wenatchee School District’s “Wenatchee Learns Connect” business partnership center has been selected by the National Governors Association (NGA) Policy Academy on Work-Based Learning (WBL) as a learning laboratory for best practices.
“This recognition is a real testament to the great work being done by our Wenatchee Connect staff, career & technical education staff, and the business and community partners who have supported our vision and efforts to increase work-based learning and career connections for our students,” says Wenatchee Superintendent Brian Flones.
Diana Haglund is the coordinator for Wenatchee Learns Connect. “We started the work of Wenatchee Learns with the help of our community,” Diana says. “I’m excited to share our secret sauce for effective work-based learning strategies in Wenatchee with our state and nation, with the hope that other communities can benefit from our experiences.”
As a Learning Lab, Wenatchee Learns Connect will be provided with $15,000 in funding to support work-based learning. In turn, they will provide an ‘under the hood’ look at promising practices, and outcomes, programs, materials, tools and resources that support successful work-based learning programs.
Representatives from the Wenatchee School District and Wenatchee Learns Connect will present program information and performance metrics in Olympia at the Governor’s Summit on Youth Employment and Work-Based Learning in May 2017.
Work-based learning includes career exploration activities such as job shadows, internships, mentorship and other experiences that help students to develop academic, technical, trade and entrepreneurial skills. Learning labs provide WBL experiences to individuals age 16-29, with an emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) for economically disadvantaged individuals.
“We are very excited to be selected by the National Governors Association as a learning laboratory for work-based learning,” says Superintendent Brian Flones.