developed a co-enrollment agreement with one of the community colleges that further leverages the region’s limit- ed educational resources. Under this agreement, a number of IT Academy course seats are reserved for students in the community college’s IT degree program. The community college students attend alongside IT Academy students, earning college credits as well as credentials. The younger learners started participating in the IT Academy courses in 2018, when the SVHEC extended access to the region’s high schools. In a partnership with the local community colleges and three public school systems, high school juniors and seniors may attend the Career Tech Academy at the SVHEC. Two program tracks, Mechatronics and IT, are currently offered with plans to add an Automation & Robotics track soon. High school juniors and seniors enroll in the year-long programs with a chance to earn college credits and in-demand credentials. Ms. Shotwell is always seeking to maximize resources. “We have such a wonderful facility and now it’s being used by both adult and high school students during the day and by adults at night.” But ultimately students receive training for the real world. “Students are training in an environment that is very much like the workplace. Our students perform hands-on lab activities that we have designed, written and matched with CompTIA certification objectives.” The SVHEC IT Academy has launched so many successful IT careers that former students have formed an organization to support new learners and stay connected, similar to an alumni association. “Seeing the success of these individuals speaks loud and clear,” said Ms. Shotwell. By the Numbers… 2015 - 2019 • Sixteen (16) training cohorts have been completed: A+, Server+, Network+, Security+. • 205 individuals have been enrolled in 509 unique IT courses. • 244 CompTIA certifications have been earned. • 182 individuals have successfully completed the IT Academy program. • More than 80% of the IT Academy students reported being employed six months after completing the IT program. Student Insights Jermaine Jackson has been a long-time Southern Virginia resident. Jermaine obtained his Commercial Driver’s License and started driving a truck to make some easy money. The original appeal of the job quickly wore thin as he was away from home more often and for longer periods of time. “I thought I would like the truck driving for money, but after a while, I realized that doing a job for money isn’t the way to go. I just wasn’t happy,” said Jermaine. Jermaine decided to take a risk. He resigned from his truck driving job, applied for and was awarded a Microsoft scholarship and enrolled in the IT Academy. Jermaine said he “showed up ready to learn.” After a brief introduction, his instructor provided the class with instructions on how to take a PC apart and put it back together. Jermaine followed the instructions and to his great surprise, after putting his PC back together, it “fired back up” and Jermaine was hooked. “It truly interested me after that. I decided to dedicate time to actually learn more,” he remarked. Jermaine worked diligently and earned his CompTIA A+ certification. He quickly landed a job at Microsoft and is pursuing a successful and fulfilling IT career pathway. “I love working at Microsoft. This is literally the first job where I go to work and I’m happy,” says Jackson. “It really changed my life.” Jermaine sees significant value in IT certifications and intends to continue his IT education by pursuing more CompTIA credentials. Jermaine plans to earn his CompTIA Server+, Network+, and Security+ certifications. “What I did changed my life for the better and I plan to keep moving forward with CompTIA.”
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¹ “Cost of a Data Breach Report: 2019”, Ponemon Institute, (2019), https://databreach calculator.mybluemix.net/executive- summary
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