![\"Van](\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Career-readiness-presentation-12-17-15-Koontz.jpg\")
<\/a>That change in attitude is not one that has been an easy one for traditional school districts, a fact that Van Wert High School Principal Bob Priest acknowledged following a presentation he and VWHS guidance counselor Kerry Koontz made to local business and government leaders Thursday.<\/p>\n
The local school officials were looking for ways to bring information to students about well-paying jobs and careers in the community, and seeking an investment from the business community to provide job shadowing, internships, and other opportunities for students seeking career information.<\/p>\n
Priest and Koontz also talked about creating new educational curriculums to better train students for local career opportunities, although Priest added that, realistically, schools can\u2019t prepare students for every<\/i> job opportunity.<\/p>\n
School programs would also focus on teaching \u201csoft skills\u201d — how to better communicate, create resumes, promote oneself in an interview, work with others on a team, and how to behave on the job — in addition to the traditional academic courses.<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s presentation is just one indication that traditional schools are starting to acknowledge the fact that, with the high cost of the college, coupled with the availability of lots of good-paying technical and other skilled jobs, college is probably not a viable — or even preferred — option for many students.<\/p>\n
VWCS Superintendent Ken Amstutz also spoke briefly on what he learned as part of a national committee that deals with career readiness questions — information that led him to challenge Priest and his staff to come up with programs to better serve students’ career needs.<\/p>\n
Lincolnview and Crestview also had representatives at the presentation, as did Vantage Career Center.<\/p>\n
Vantage Superintendent Staci Kaufman said she was encouraged by Thursday\u2019s presentation, while mildly criticizing traditional schools for not always serving students\u2019 best interests in the area of career preparation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t always see the students enroll at Vantage that should be steered in that direction,\u201d Kaufman said, while also commending local schools for trying to adapt to today\u2019s educational realities. \u201cIt\u2019s not a new idea, but it\u2019s vital.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Vantage superintendent said both private and public sectors need to be on the same page before parents\u2019 mindsets will change on the idea that kids need college to be successful.<\/p>\n
Local government leaders, a big part of that crucial public-private partnership, were pleased with Thursday\u2019s message.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a new paradigm \u2026 we\u2019ve got to start looking at, not what\u2019s best for us, as a school, but what\u2019s best for our kids, and I think this is going to translate into what\u2019s best for our community,\u201d County Commissioner Thad Lichtensteiger said. \u201cI love the notion that there\u2019s some alignment of education with what the business world needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Todd Wolfrum, who has spearheaded local efforts to keep local students in the county following high school graduation, was particularly pleased to hear educators starting to talk about the same ideas.<\/p>\n
\u201cHearing the kinds of thinks Bob and Kerry are talking about is really encouraging,\u201d Wolfrum said. \u201cIt\u2019s good to hear people who can actually implement these programs talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce President\/CEO Susan Munroe called the presentation a \u201cnatural continuation\u201d of discussions her organization has promoted among the business community on the subject of career readiness. She also said she likes the idea of a public\/private partnership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chamber feels strongly about the fact that this will be most successful if we work as one county team,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
While traditional schools are beginning to see the light on career readiness, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s going to be easy to change the mindset of parents convinced that college is the key to their children\u2019s future success.<\/p>\n
Noting that he has two children still in school, Priest said he had a conversation this past summer with his youngest daughter, an eighth-grader at Van Wert Middle School, about college. \u201cShe said, \u2018but what if I don\u2019t want to go to college?\u2019 and I said, \u2018you\u2019re going,\u2019\u201d Priest said, adding that he now regretted his \u201cdo what I say\u201d attitude. \u201cWhat I should have done was listen, and ask \u2018why don\u2019t you want to go?\u2019 and \u2018what would you like to do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The VWHS principal went on to say that many parents of school-age children still have the mindset he had six months ago. \u201cThat\u2019s a difficult mindset to change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But the change is necessary, considering that today\u2019s college graduates owe an average of nearly $30,000 in school-related debt, while less than a third of those who start college will finish with a four-year degree.<\/p>\n
Lichtensteiger said changing parental mindsets is crucial to better preparing students for available careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to fight our way through the notion that every parent says to themselves: \u2018My child has to have a four-year degree\u2019,\u201d he said, adding, though, that his own son is a good example of a parent saying his children will all need to go to college.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Career readiness. It\u2019s a term that Vantage Career Center and other vocational schools are familiar with, since it\u2019s been their focus for decades. However, traditional school districts such as Van Wert City Schools — who in the past stressed that a college education was crucial to succeeding in life — are now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 23:50:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}