Ashtabula Partnership Links Students, Manufacturers
ASHTABULA, Ohio -- The Buckeye Local School District and the companies of the Ashtabula Community Advisory Panel have formed the Buckeye Community Partnership with the intent of helping students identify and prepare for careers in the region.
The advisory panel, formed in 1994, is a forum for representatives of the member companies and the surrounding community about health, safety and the environment. Recently, those discussions centered on the companies’ need for qualified employees and the school district’s intent to develop a curriculum that better prepares their students to enter the workforce and/or higher education.
Companies of the panel and participants in the Buckeye Community Partnership are Ashta Chemicals, Cristal, Gabriel Performance Products and Praxair. The Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County, as administrator of the panel, will help with programming and coordination between the school district and partner companies.
Announcement of the Buckeye Community Partnership coincides with Buckeye Local Schools and Edgewood High School restructuring their curricula to prepare students in their areas of interest after graduation. Students will select from several paths that include a career-focused program, a program focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and one focused on the humanities.
Regardless of the program, a student will be required to take part in job shadowing and hold an internship. Students will be assigned mentors.
“We believe that this partnership will serve the needs of our students and their organizations in a most positive manner," said Joe Spiccia, superintendent of Buckeye Local Schools, in a prepared statement. "Everyone in the partnership stands to gain in this endeavor and we believe we can become a model for other school-business relationships.”
To work toward the success of the program, the partner companies will provide:
- Opportunities for students to tour their plants so they better understand the careers open to them.
- Mentors for students so that they might learn from professionals.
- Opportunities for graduates to obtain internships at the companies as they enter advanced training and/or go on to higher education.
- Opportunities for teachers and administrators to interact with companies so they achieve a more informed understanding of the industries.
- Opportunities for parents of students to interact with the companies so that they understand the importance and value of the manufacturing industry.
Cristal is the world's second-largest producer of titanium dioxide and a producer of titanium chemicals with nearly 4,000 employees on five continents. More than 500 employees and two manufacturing plants are based in Ashtabula.
Gabriel Performance Products is a chemical supplier that offers an extensive line of specialty proprietary products and custom-manufactured chemicals.
Praxair is the largest industrial and medical gases company in the Western Hemisphere, serving more than one million customers in a wide variety of markets.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our free daily email headlines and to our twice-monthly print edition.