Youth Apprenticeship Panel

I had the honor of being on the Youth Apprenticeship Panel for the ACTE Oklahoma group that visited Gateway this month. Over the week, 75 school superintendents from Oklahoma traveled to Wisconsin to learn about our Career and Technical Education programs at the technical college and K-12 levels. They toured Elkhorn High School as well as five other schools outside Walworth County. They listened to panels of current YA's, employers, economic development associations, tech colleges, and other tertiary roles in the CTE field. It was great being able to share our Walworth County YA success stories!

Wisconsin Level Up Convention

How to Build & Attract Talent for Wisconsin's Future

June 21, 2023 • The Ridge

https://www.wmcfoundation.org/event/levelup/

I attended the Wisconsin Level Up event on June 21 highlighting "How to Build & Attract Talent for Wisconsin's Future." The event was sponsored by the Wisconsin Manufacturing Councel Foundation. 

Chris Trottier, Director of School to Work Opportunites for Elkhorn Area School District and Jason Tadlock, Superintendent for Elkhorn Area School District spoke in session 3 called From Partnerships to Results - How to create career ready students! Other topics included: One Call Away: How Local Businesses Can Make a Big Impact in Education, SCC-University--Innovative ways in building your next generation of workers, Playing Nice in the Sandbox Will Create a Stronger Wisconsin and more. Elkhorn High School's David Redford, a Youth Apprentice in marketing at Precision Plus, spoke on the student panel called Exploring the Benefits and Challenges of Work-Based Learning.

This event was very informative with great breakout sessions. They will have another event next June, so stay tuned!

Every student, future ready

As we wrap up the school year, I reflect back on all the awesome experiences the students have had, from tours and job shadows to career panels and job opportunities as well as YA opportunities. It has been a great year! Thank you to all our businesses partners who helped make it great! Stay tuned to how you can participate in next year's events.

Latino Economic Unsummit

Friday May 5th I attended the 2023 Sustainability and Innovation 5th Annual Latino Economic Unsummit, hosted by the Latino Chamber of Commerce of SEW. I had the honor of participating on one of their panels to discuss access to workforce training and programs for businesses. It was an excellent discussion!

Biz Town with Elkhorn Area Middle School

May 15th I volunteered at Junior Achievements Biz Town in Milwaukee. The 6th grade class from the Elkhorn Middle School had the awesome opportunity to to spend the day there learning life and career readiness skills. I was in the Fox 6 News Room. The kids learned all about what it takes run a TV show, and they loved it. It was an awesome day!

On April 27, I hosted a youth apprenticeship (YA) event at the East Troy High School with Cindy Holmes from Wisconsin Oven and Sara Larkins from Mercyhealth. The students learned about YA opportunities and what's available to them after graduation.

Also on April 27, I had the honor of introducing students and businesses to the 2023 Youth Apprenticeship Celebration. It was an awesome event celebrating over 130 Youth Apprenticeships with over 100 employers this school year — our largest group so far! 

Top 5 Career Paths this School Year

1. Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
2. Manufacturing
3. Architecture & Construction
4. (tied) Health Science and Hospitality & Tourism

Number of Students in the YA Program by School Year

2022-2023: 139

2021-2022: 135

2020-2021: 114

2019-2020: 100

2018-2019: 76

ElkWorks Noon Whistle with
Governor Tony Evers

During this episode, Governor Evers discusses his journey from educator to Governor, talks about his accomplishments in public office, and the impact education has on the Wisconsin economy. [Watch]



Grand Geneva Employer Visit

The Elkhorn YouthBuild students visited Grand Geneva for an employer visit. The students walked the entire grounds, visited all the key attractions, and learned about the available employment opportunities. Thank you for a great visit!

[See the full post]



Entrepreneurship Class Project Mentorship

Area business men and women helped EAHS students create business plans and strategies for a product they were tasked with developing. The students are researching and building a new business plan and then going to pitch their plan to a panel of experts, and the mentors will support, guide, and coach the students to their destination.

Job Shadows 

I’m working on lining up dozens of job shadows for the school districts in Walworth County. Let me know if you're interested in hosting a student for morning or afternoon. Make a difference in a student's life!

The career paths I'm looking for are:

• Advanced Manufacturing
• Advanced Manufacturing Welding
• Vet Tech 
• Vet 
• Architecture & Construction 
• Business admin
• Business Mgmt
• Business and Accounting 
• Cosmetology
• Cosmetology Esthetician
• Diesel Technician
• Hospitality
• Landscaping 
• Patient Care
• Something adventurous
• IT
• Graphic Design
• Lawyer
• Law enforcement 
• Health 
• Human Services
• Web Design

Contact Lisa Pavett at lisa@walworthbusiness.com