ROANOKE, Va. – Virginia Western Community College has taken the lead in getting Roanoke City students a real taste of different career paths before graduation with the second year of summer career exploration camps.
Rising 10th, 11th and 12th graders in Roanoke City schools were able to register for up to two week-long camps for free during July.
The camp choices range from this horticulture, floral design and community beautification camp, which we enjoyed dropping in on.
From hospitality and event management, culinary and criminal justice, to biotech and entrepreneurship, registration was simple and the camps themselves are hands-on opportunities to see what each path would be like.
One of the camp’s primary organizers, Regina Cook, explains that it gives the students experiences that can help narrow down their career path moving forward.
“So we’re very intentive that this isn’t theoretical in any way. This is true career immersion. So, they get to walk in the different job sectors that are within the industry, and I think it helps them to your point. ‘I absolutely love this or I absolutely do not see myself doing this as a career pathway,’ and that avoids costly decisions for them to make a change later, and so we’ve seen just exceptional results that are coming in. We’ve seen students grow and develop. We’ve seen benefits for our industry partners who help to support these camps. It’s been fantastic,” said Cook, who is the Corporate Training lead for Virginia Western.
The college is hoping to expand the program in years to come to some surrounding counties, which should help better serve the students of those communities.