NCC Receives Innovation Award From NCCCAEA

Nash Community College recently received an Innovation Award from the North Carolina Community College Adult Educators Association for its Foundational Adult Basic Education (FABE) program.

The FABE program offers four semester long career pathways including food service and hospitality, environmental services, retail sales and lawn maintenance and gardening. Students work at mastering skills in these pathways in order to earn a certificate in that area. The students may elect to stop after earning any certificate, at which point they work with Vocational Rehabilitation Services in achieving job placement.

The program was designed to be an extension of the work students do in the K-12 Occupational Studies Course of Study in the public school system. It allows students to continue their education and training in career pathways at the community college level.  Apprenticeships are offered on campus, with different departments, providing students the opportunity to learn from staff outside their regular area of instruction.

Student apprenticeships include working at the College’s Midway Cafe Express serving breakfast, working with the campus master gardener tending a variety of garden beds, and serving alongside College maintenance staff. In addition to the apprenticeships, students attend classes in reading, writing and mathematics, as well as a classroom session for work skills. Under a partnership with Vocational Rehabilitation, students who wish to go to work may move into a work placement either at the end of a specific semester, or at the end of the two-year program.

Students complete placement testing and an interview prior to enrolling in the program, and are then placed into classes for academic and career instruction.

For more information, contact Ivana Stevens, Career Pathways and Transition Coordinator at ikstevens659@nashcc.edu or (252) 451-8315.