Apprenticeships -- The Real Reality Show

CS Monitor reports that on-the-job-training is making a comeback, with 63,000 completing apprenticeship programs this year - up 68 percent from 2000. Read more...

Career Exploration Resources

There are two brilliant new additions to the career exploration toolkit. Both resources are based in Southwest PA -- offering relevant local information about career exploration. The Future is Mine is a project of the Mon Valley Education Consortium. Their website is serving as a very practical resource for schools participating in yearlong career education activities. Many of the pages are designed to give students the chance to ask questions. It will be interesting to watch those message boards come to life! Also, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation's Health Careers Futures site has gone live. Like MVEC's site, this also offers outstanding resources for students, teachers and parents. I'm a big fan of their health careers toolkit -- the toolkit provides testimonials from people in health careers, maps of career pathways and practical information about how to pursue relevant education and training to meet one's career goals.

Busy Season

Wow! Sending out the new HCPI brochure sure did generate a lot of interest on behalf of schools. We have 40 presentations coming up in the next 2 months. Some highlights: Career Ambassador training at West Allegheny High School, Parent Open House at Blue Knob Elementary School, and a teacher training in collaboration with PHEAA. We've also had some media attention. Last week, I had the pleasure of being on PCNC's Night Talk. (I believe the show airs 9/16 at 8pm, 9/17 at 2am and 9/19 at 5pm.) The PCNC show focused on Hurricane Katrina. It was a great opportunity to discuss our region's disaster preparedness. You have to wonder, if we were faced with a major disaster, could our resource-strained healthcare workforce meet the challenge? Next week (9/25), a segment we taped for Teens On Q will finally air. This segment focuses on opportunities in IT. Let's hope these are all signs that our region is becoming more career literate.

Katrina's Lesson in Globalization

The devastation of Hurricane Katrina is calling some to question big business' just-in-time philosophy. Being "highly specialized" reduces redundancies, but it also makes us more vunerable. Hear more on Marketplace's online report.