Education Foundation receives $15,000 Alcoa grant

The opportunity for Lowcountry students to explore careers with just a few clicks of a mouse is growing, thanks to a $15,000 Alcoa Foundation grant to The Education Foundation.

Announced last week by Alcoa’s Mt. Holly plant, the grant will further the development of “Virtual Job Shadows,” career exploration modules available free to high school students, parents and educators through the Personal Pathways to Success website.

Produced by Microburst Learning, Virtual Job Shadows allow students to discover and investigate a number of career options available in the workplace.

Each highly interactive job shadow, developed using input from business as well as from students themselves, is a tool that helps students discover their career niche and understand the importance of pursuing their educational goal. The availability of job shadows at no cost to students removes many barriers to career exploration – geographic location and availability of shadowing opportunities, socioeconomic status, and work site restrictions.

The Virtual Job Shadows produced from Alcoa Foundation grant will broaden the spectrum of the 11 modules currently available, and the additional 16 job shadows in the making. By enhancing efforts by the State Department of Education and The Education Foundation, lessons showcase careers linked to the 16 personal pathways to success career clusters used in K-12 schools.

“Workforce development and training are clear priorities for our community and have been the focus of many Alcoa Foundation grants in past years,” Alcoa Mt. Holly Plant Manager Mike Rousseau said. “Through career exploration using virtual job shadows, students are exposed to career fields early and can select courses and activities that better prepare them for the workplace.

“While all students do not have the opportunity to shadow in the workplace, they can use the virtual job shadows to gain insight and develop real expectations about their desired career fields.”

Allen Wutzdorff is the executive director of The Education Foundation.

“We are delighted to partner with Microburst Learning to develop new Virtual Job Shadows opportunities,” he said. “The online modules almost literally take students to the workplace, show them what a job involves, ask them questions and invite them to explore their own future, right at their desktop.

“The Alcoa Foundation grant and support from Alcoa Mt. Holly will further expand the variety of careers available to students through the virtual job shadowing experience. Partnerships between the education and business communities are key in our ability to develop and provide students with opportunities for career exploration.”