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Delaware gets $2 million for high school career prep program

Delaware is one of 10 states receiving grant money to improve career-focused education across its high schools.

 

Nearly $2 million dollars, coming from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the Council of Chief State School Officers, will help expand the Pathways to Prosperity program, which seeks to prepare students for in-demand jobs and pair them with Delaware employers.

 

Luke Rhine, the director of career and technical education with the state’s department of education said the money will ensure Pathways leads to jobs. 

 

“We are really focused on where there’s significant occupational growth in the state of Delaware, so we do quite a bit of labor market research to determine where we want to make a programmatic investment,” Rhine said. “The intent is to soar student talent in the thousands so that we have really a robust and dynamic workforce that’s entering into occupations in Delaware that are high growth.”

 

Madelynne Harrison, a junior at Polytech High School is pursuing the engineering and design technology pathway. She said she is learning how to design a house and renovate a library using a computer program that walks her through a step-by-step process on how to design a home.

 

“It has given me the opportunity of gaining new knowledge about the different types of engineering,” Harrison said.

 

Thirty-eight of Delaware’s 44 high schools, including nearly 6,000 students, participate in Pathways to Prosperity. The program is one of departing Gov. Markell’s signature education initiatives.

 

“We need to ask one simple question which is, ‘do our students have a better chance of success today than they would have otherwise?’" Markell said. “I think because of the work that all the people in this room are doing, the answer to that is yes they have more opportunities. That’s really what it’s all about.”

 

And Pathways to Prosperity will continue under Gov-elect John Carney who said he plans to further build the “critically important” program during his term. Over the last two years, the program blossomed from 27 graduates to 6,000 students, and state officials expect all school districts will be involved by next school year.

 

“We have students over here who need skills and will need jobs - good jobs,” Carney said, “and we’ve got employers over here who are [going to] need those employees. And this program creates the pathway between the two, and that’s why it’s so critically important.”

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