Carolina Careers Campaign to be Launched State-Wide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9/29/2000

CONTACT: AMANDA BLANTON, EXT. 2247
(By Rebecca Eidson)

PENDLETON --- The South Carolina Department of Education is launching a statewide marketing campaign on October 9 to aggressively partner business and education, from kindergarten through college, to better prepare students for the 21st century workforce.

"Carolina Careers" is the brand name that has been adopted to promote the skills education system in the state. The Carolina Careers umbrella spans all of South Carolina's K-12 schools, two-year technical and regional colleges and four-year colleges and universities. The major components include career and technology education, School-to-Work and Tech Prep programs offered in the secondary education system and technical and baccalaureate educational options.

"Carolina Careers is designed to link every education program and organization in the state that is in the business of preparing students for successful careers," said Amanda Blanton, interim director for the Partnership for Academic and Career Education (PACE), the Tech Prep/School-to-Work Consortium office serving Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties. PACE, which is based at Tri-County Technical College in Pendleton, is the local contact for Carolina Careers information and referrals.

Blanton, who also serves as Tri-County's Director of Collaboration and Special Projects, emphasizes that Carolina Careers serves all students from elementary school through college. It is a partnership between educators, employers and the community to show students where they can go in life, and then give them the education and experience to get there. "It's also about inspiring students and motivating them to stay in school and pursue higher education," she added.

The focus of "Carolina Careers" skills education is on mastery of core academic subjects and enhancing learning through active, hands-on projects that excite students and show them how academic knowledge is applied in the world outside school.

Through the Carolina Careers system, a student can learn about exciting jobs and educational options in growing fields he or she may never have considered, then develop the rigorous academic and technical skills required to break into their chosen careers.

"Carolina Careers isn't a new program; it's simply a marketing strategy to promote skills education and all its varied components in the state," Blanton stated. "It's a way of linking everyone in South Carolina who is offering skills education opportunities."

She added that the job market is experiencing many changes, and there are emerging careers that many students and their parents don't understand. Carolina Careers provides an opportunity to learn about and prepare for these 21st century careers.

According to Blanton, partnership is a key component of the Carolina Careers concept. "The business of educating students takes more than a classroom teacher," she stated. "It takes all of us - educators, students, parents, employers, all of us - to help prepare students for the future."

Thirteen years ago, area school districts, Tri-County Technical College and other partners formed the PACE partnership to focus on enhanced academic and occupational studies for high school students in Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties. Tech Prep/School-to-Work links high school and two-year college programs by eliminating the gaps and overlaps between these two levels of education. It also provides opportunities for students to be better prepared for the world of work through career guidance, blended academic and occupational education and work-based learning opportunities, such as job shadowing and cooperative education.

The PACE consortium, comprised of the seven school districts of Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties, Tri-County Technical College, local businesses and industries, community agencies and Clemson University, focuses on Tech Prep and School-to Work initiatives for all levels of education.

PACE was named the best Tech Prep partnership initiative in the country in 1991 by the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) and received one of three national awards presented by the American Association of Community Colleges. This was the first time that the USDOE and the AACC recognized the nation's best Tech Prep programs.
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