Oxford, AL – Fifteen East Alabama educators were recently honored during the VIP Breakfast at Worlds of Work presented by Eastman for completing the East AlabamaWorks Educator Workforce Academy (EWA) in 2022.
The Educator Workforce Academy is designed to teach educators about the career opportunities and workforce training programs that are available in East Alabama. Educators can then return to their school system armed with knowledge of the workforce needs of local industry sectors. This prepares them to better engage in conversations with their students about future opportunities.
EWA graduates attended four sessions, over a period of four months, and covered topics including Introduction to Workforce and Training Programs; Healthcare Careers; Manufacturing Technology; and Transportation, Distribution & Logistics. The sessions included presentations from local industry leaders and tours of manufacturing industries, healthcare facilities, training programs, and more.
As a final project, each educator prepared an implementation plan outlining how they can use the knowledge and connections gained from the Educator Workforce Academy in their school system to make students workforce ready.
The educators listed below completed the 2022 course:
- Leslie Alexander – Talladega City Schools
- Tracy Brazier – Calhoun County Schools
- Gina Deupree – Talladega County Schools
- Deana Goodwine – Sylacauga City Schools
- Dr. D. Ray Hill – Anniston City Schools
- Nancy Messer – Randolph County Schools
- Whitney Murchison – Talladega County Schools
- Kelli Sanford – Talladega County Schools
- Darian Simmons – Talladega City Schools
- Walt Simmons – Etowah County Schools
- Makayla Smith – Randolph County School
- Dr. Shannon Stanley – Oxford City Schools
- Brittany Sutton – Randolph County Schools
- Tamar Towns – Anniston City Schools
- Tommy Wood – Cleburne County Schools
This year’s Educator Workforce Academy will commence in September 2023. Registration is open to educators in the East AlabamaWorks seven-county region. There is no cost involved. The online registration form is available at www.eastalabamaworks.com. Participation is limited to the first twenty registrants.
East AlabamaWorks is the regional workforce council for Region 2, representing Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay,
Cleburne, Etowah, Randolph, and Talladega counties. East AlabamaWorks is a coalition of leaders in
business and industry, education providers and trainers, and municipalities. One of our most important
goals is to provide short-term and long-term solutions for closing the skills gap. Council members work
together to maximize workforce efforts throughout the region and to ensure the alignment of resources
to address local workforce priorities. The goal of East AlabamaWorks is to ensure there is a pipeline of
skilled and ready workers to meet the demands of business both now and in the future. Learn more
online at www.eastalabamaworks.com.
