All In: Student Pathways Forward
This podcast focuses on elevating community college student voices to shape inclusive higher education and workforce development policies, practice and partnerships that create economic mobility.
All In: Student Pathways Forward
Hampton Roads Higher Education Executive Leaders: Tidewater Community College president Dr. Marcia Conston, Virginia Peninsula Community College president Dr. Porter Brannon, and Dr. Latitia McCane, Director of Education for the Apprentice School
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This special All In episode is part II of a mini series following the National Council for Workforce Education’s annual conference in Norfolk, Virginia in fall 2025. It includes engaging interviews with three charismatic higher education and workforce executive leaders from the Hampton Roads region: Dr. Marcia Conston, the president of Tidewater Community College, Dr. Porter Brannon, the president of Virginia Peninsula Community College and Dr. Latitia McCane, the Director of Education for The Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding/HII.
Dr. Conston, Dr. Brannon and Dr. McCane each share reflections from the NCWE 2025 annual conference plenary student panel discussion that included learners from each of their institutions recorded and published in the last All In podcast episode. These executives also offer their perspectives and insights on what it means to meet the moment for workforce education, the theme of the NCWE conference, such as developing nimble and responsive programs in collaboration with regional employers and other partners that create economic prosperity in the region.
Lastly, Dr. Conston, Dr. Brannon and Dr. McCane all describe the power and importance of listening to students each highlighting examples of programmatic and policy improvements made at their respective institutions as a result of student input.
Welcome to the All-In Student Pathways Forward podcast, focused on elevating community college student voices along with those of college executives, policymakers, and higher education advocates to help shape student-centered policies, programs, and partnerships. This is the host, Mark Goldberg, and this is a special episode following the recent National Council for Workforce Education annual conference taking place in Norfolk, Virginia, that includes interviews with three executive leaders from the Hampton Roads region. Dr. Marcia Constant, the president of Tidewater Community College, Dr. Porter Brandon, the president of Virginia Peninsula Community College, and Dr. Leticia McCain, the Director of Education for the Apprentice School at Newport Newshipbuilding, HII. Dr. Constant, Dr. Brandon, and Dr. McCain share reflections from the student panel discussion at the recent NCWE conference that included learners from each of their institutions, that was also recorded and published in the last all-in podcast episode. They each offer their perspective and insights on what it means to meet the moment for workforce education, the theme of the recent conference, and all emphasize the power and importance of listening to students and also building nimble and responsive programs that create economic prosperity for their region. Thanks for listening in. I'd like to welcome to the podcast today Dr. Marcia Constant, who's the president of Tidewater Community College. Welcome, Dr. Constant, to the All In Student Pathways Forward podcast. Thank you so much for having me, Mark. I'm happy to be here. I appreciate you taking the time and wanted to start by asking you if you could share more about Tidewater Community College for any listeners that aren't familiar with the institution, particularly outside the Hampton Roads region.
SPEAKER_01Certainly. I am happy to. First of all, let me just say that there are 23 community colleges in the Commonwealth of Virginia. And Tidewater Community College is the second largest. We serve about 23,000 students, somewhere between 23 and 24,000. And we are located in Hampton Roads, as you know, but also we have campuses in four cities. And we were located in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Port Smith, and of course the city of Norfolk. We also have a large presence in the city of Suffolk. It is actually our workforce center. So in addition to the four campuses in that regional center, we also have a few other centers like our Center for Military Families and Veterans and so forth throughout, but they are located on various campuses. We are actually the largest provider of education in the Southampton Rhodes area. So there are other community colleges here, but we are actually the largest provider. We have a huge population of not only curriculum students, a large population of dual enroll students, but also we have a huge population of students who are in the workforce trades areas. TCC was founded in 1968, and we, of course, serve students of all ages and backgrounds in helping them to achieve their educational and career goals.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for sharing that background and what a large reach that the college provides in the Hampton Roads region and beyond, it sounds like, with campuses, centers, programs, and also, as you pointed out, the multitude of programs and offerings between curriculum programs, dual enrollment, and then workforce development. Right.
SPEAKER_01And I would also add, and this is very important, one-third of the students we serve are military related. So they are either active or they are veterans or they have family members who are involved in the military. So we have a very large military presence here. And that's very important.
SPEAKER_00That's fantastic. And continuing the conversation in workforce education, I know that TCC offers a multitude of short-term responsive and stackable workforce training programs that help residents upskill or reskill towards good jobs and careers in the region while also meeting the talent needs of your employers in the region. So I wanted to ask you, Dr. Constant, could you talk about how these programs support the college's strategic plan, which is called Innovate 2026?
SPEAKER_01Sure. Well, let me just say we have recently updated our plan, and it is now Innovate 2030. So we have completed the first five-year cycle. We're into the second five-year cycle, and of course, we've updated a lot of the content. And so just a little bit about Typewater Community College in terms of our vision statement. Our vision here at Typewater is to be the community's first choice for education, opportunity, partnership, and innovation. And that's a vision that we take very seriously. We break it down, we talk about it, the community's first choice for education, opportunity, partnership, and innovation. So I wanted to say it again for emphasis. And within the context of our vision statement, we have several core values as vision and mission statements do. But three of our core values are teaching and learning, innovation. Again, you will hear innovation quite a bit, and community. And so these are the areas that we really lean in on as we talk about workforce development. And I'll mention just a couple of things that we are doing in the workforce space. Number one, we have what we call our Skill Trades Academy, and that academy is located in the city of Portsmouth, which is really, really one of the critical workforce communities in Hampton Roads. And so it is centrally located there. We opened it in 2019, and the purpose was to provide training in a number of skilled trades areas, particularly areas such as welding and pipe fitting, coating, marine coating, as well as sheet metal, plumbing, fort lift, and other types of areas that are really needed for shipbuilding and ship repair. And so that facility started out with about 20,000 square feet. And within two years, we outgrew it. So we acquired an additional 12,000 square feet. And now we have that facility, which is a 32,000 square foot facility that serves a large number of individuals in this region. And we've also added some additional areas such as heating and air conditioning and construction as well.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for sharing that and a great example of an innovative and responsive program in collaboration with your employers and community partners.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I will add that TCC, we continuously partner, as we mentioned earlier, with a number of our industry leaders in the region. So, you know, having that match is so important. It's one thing to offer all of these programs, but if they are not what's in high demand, then what difference does it make? So we really work with our industry partners in the region to make sure that we are truly providing the programs that they are interested in having in their businesses, and that we're preparing the next generation of workforce for innovation and excellence. And that's something that our partners, many of them around the region, really acknowledge and appreciate. Developed and aligned.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And what I love about workforce is the access that can be created through those partnerships. Because it can be someone who's new to the skilled trades industry who's just getting started as a pipe fitter, say, like Evan on the student panel at the NCWE conference.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00But also for someone who may already be working for these employers that want to advance in their careers in an industry that has such a strong demand and significant number of good jobs, quality jobs and careers. And now moving into the NCWE conference that took place in Norfolk, it kicked off with a fantastic student panel that included Jasmine, a graduate of one of these workforce programs at Tidewater Community College, the Clinical Medical Assistant Program, along with Evan, who's an apprentice with the Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding, and a past TCC student, as well as April, a curtain student at Virginia Peninsula Community College, one of your sister schools in the region. So I wanted to ask you, Dr. Constant, what your overall reactions were to the NCWE student panel, and additionally, what college strengths and potential future opportunities did the students highlight?
SPEAKER_01Well, I will first of all say that the students are amazing, and we are always proud of our students, and that's why we want to make sure that they have the opportunity to share their voices because they're important and they are powerful, and we, as leaders in this field, truly listen to them. We truly listen to the voices of our students. And you're right, all three students were just impressive and they were amazing. And they offered so much good advice for us, again, as they always do. For example, you mentioned Evan, and he worked with the Newport News shipbuilding. And so he talked about the fact that Newport News provided him with the opportunity to have so much flexibility in the workspace, you know, being able to attend class and if he needed to take time off to prepare for or even take tests, that he could structure, working with Newport News Shipbuilding, structure his work schedule around his class schedule. So that was very, very good information for me. And also he talked about something that our students will often share, that we respect their time. And for him to use that language, I thought was quite, quite important. And of course, Jasmine, she just spoke at length about the support that she had received here at Tidewater Community College. I was very appreciative of her sharing things. One of the things she highlighted was the fact that we had provided, as we did, many of our students with free laptops. And so that spoke to the need for technology. And so we listened to that, and as much as we possibly can, we will ensure that we will continue to provide technology to meet the needs of our students. And she also talked about the reduced tuition, being able to use our fast forward dollars, and those are funds that have come to us through the state, where we are able to provide additional resources, financial resources to our students. But that's not just here at Tidewater Community College, that's at all three community colleges. So those fast forward dollars have really made a difference in the lives of our students, and we rely on the state to continue to support us in that way. But what she spoke about and she recognized so clearly was that it enabled us to address financial barriers that our students experience, and not only from tuition and fees, books, supplies, as well as housing and childcare, transportation, food, even. There are so many financial barriers that our students experience because truly we are the community's college. We represent the community. And so when we talk about the needs of our students, they are many. And any opportunity that we have to be able to support the students is really appreciative. So it was Jasmine who spoke to that. And then April talked about the fact that she was so appreciative of the support systems that the colleges provide, such as advising and counseling for our students, credit for prior learning. We talked a little bit about stackable credentials as well as just the overall support that the students would be able to receive at the colleges. So they were just powerful. The information was very relevant. We are trying to do many of the things that our students talk about, but it's always good to have their input, and that makes us be even more aggressive to do a better job at servicing our students.
SPEAKER_00I really appreciate that, Dr. Constant, and your reflections on the power of those students' voices and really listening to their advice, highlighting what each of them said in different ways because they covered a lot of ground from their own lived experience.
SPEAKER_01I think April summed it up perfectly. She said we should keep the students' voices at the center of every decision. And I thought that was very powerful.
SPEAKER_00It was, yeah. I'm so glad she said that. And I think that's a good segue. We know the cost of college for students, which goes well beyond tuition and fees, as you described, is typically the biggest deterrent for current and prospective students to enroll and complete meaningful college credentials. I know you elaborated on the fast forward program from the state. Wanted to ask you, Dr. Constant, if you could share any additional ways that TCC has helped address the cost of college, including many of those student basic needs.
SPEAKER_01Yes, so just to reiterate, the fast forward has been huge to having addressed many of the barriers that our students experience. And we also, early on when I came to the college, we had another funding source that was called Virginia's G3 Program. So it was a form of tuitions assistant, and we do still receive a little bit of that money, but I think fast forward has really been the major support that our students have been receiving. But aside from that, here personally, what I have really tried to do within the past six years of my tenure as president is to really focus on fundraising, fundraising for scholarship opportunities. Currently, three out of five students of our graduates finish up with no cost. I would like to make that five out of five. So that is my goal is to increase the number of scholarship dollars so that we will not have to have students with the burden of tuition and fees. And we're well on our way as much as we possibly can. We are continuing to award scholarship dollars, particularly to our workforce students, who as of today do not qualify for Pell dollars. So that is a huge burden in itself. So the ability to raise scholarship dollars for workforce is critical for me. And we are very focused on that. And another source of funding we have, something that we've established over the last five years as well, especially coming out of COVID, was a fund set aside that we call emergency grants. So, for example, if a student has a flat tire and they can't get to training, so we have funds set aside to respond immediately to an emergency need that a student might have, if they need to pay their child care, or if their utilities are being disserviced, or they may even be facing eviction. So when there are opportunities for us to provide emergency needs to the students, they come to the college, and for me, emergency means emergency. It doesn't mean filling out a form, going before a committee. That's not addressing an emergency need. If the student has an emergency need, we respond immediately to address that student's need. So that's something also, as the leader of the college that I'm very focused on, ensuring that going back to what the students said, meeting the students where they are, this is an example of how we truly try to meet the students where they are.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Sounds like Hidewater Community College has done a lot of work to address the cost of college for all students at the institution. And coming back to the NCWE conference, you also were there offering inspiring, welcoming remarks to the Hampton Roads region, highlighting the intentional work of how the college is meeting the moment through workforce education and partnerships in a very community-driven and collaborative way. I thought it was a fantastic way to set the stage for the conference and amplify great regional efforts that have created economic prosperity. Would you be willing to recap some of your conference remarks on how the college is meeting the moment for listeners that weren't able to be there in person?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. I will be happy to share just a couple of points, maybe four or five, in terms of what I thought about when we talked about meeting the moment. First of all, I will say that Hampton Roads, as we've indicated earlier, it's a richly complex region. And the reason I say that, because it's a region where we have military installations, the largest naval base in the world, global ports, we have shipyards, hospitals, we have banking, tourism, and we have a growing technology industry. All of these areas coexist right here in Hampton Roads. And therefore, workforce education is needed, and it continues to advance dramatically because of so many areas that we cover here in Hampton Roads. And so when we talk about meeting the moment, for me, it's not only talking about meeting the current workforce needs or responding to what we currently have here, but we also have to anticipate the needs and evolve with the needs and design innovative programs and partnerships with our local industries and our municipalities, as well as our educational institutions. So we have to really be proactive and innovative as we think about meeting the moment. And then, as we've talked earlier, meeting the moment responds to addressing our students' needs and desires, as we heard so much from our students. These students exemplify the heart of our work as we see and as we heard, they are real people who are overcoming tremendous barriers. And from what we heard from our students, they are generating great real results going into the workplace, like becoming a nurse or working at the Newport News shift buildings. So their journeys are not just antidotes. And when we listen to the students, they help us be able to prepare and to innovate for the needs of our workforce area. So meeting the moment means listening to our students. And I would also say that meeting the moment involves collaboration and partnerships. Because we do have so many distinct entities here in Hampton Roads, it is important that we collaborate. And so I talked a little bit about how Tidewater Community College collaborates very closely with our sister institutions, Virginia Peninsula Community College as well as Camp Community College. And recently, probably about three or four years now, we formed a community college workforce consortium. And that has been very powerful because we are able to respond collectively to critical training needs in the region. Although Tidewater Community College is a large institution, that doesn't mean that we can respond 100% to all of the workforce needs. But by us having this collaboration, we're able to do more. So meeting the moment means being able to be collaborative and to form partnerships with other institutions as well as entities like the Hampton Roads Workforce Council, for example, as well as Newport News Shipbuilding and other areas to help us meet the emerging needs we have of workforce here in this region. And then I thought about meeting the moment in terms of developing programs. So again, just being intentional about developing the types of programs that we need to respond to the diverse workforce, but also the diverse needs of our learners, including the working adults, the veterans, the single parents, the first generation students, and at the same time, considering being able to access. Opportunities and affordability for all of these individuals. And part of that is ensuring that we are engaging our employers and helping us develop the types of programming and curricula that they would like to have that they need in their work space. So to me, that's meeting the moment as well. And I think I just summed it up a little bit by talking about meeting the moment also means recognizing the urgency of our time, the economic shift, the demographic changes that we have here in this area with veterans coming in and out, the rapid advances in AI, in robotics, and automation. All of these things are evolving very quickly. And so that requires for us to be able to develop the curriculum in a rapid manner to be able to meet the emerging needs that we're facing here. So to me, being able to be bold, to be innovative, to be agile, these are factors that we have to consider as we meet the moment of today's time. So that was a little bit of what he talked about. And I think I summed it up by asking some reflective questions for the audience. One, I asked, how are we embedding agility in our programs? And number two, I asked, how are we giving students not only credentials but transformative opportunities? And then I think the last one was across institutions and regions, how are we collaborating? Not just here in the Hampton Roads area, but across the entire region of our United States, how are we collaborating to meet the moment, whatever those moments may be in our particular regions?
SPEAKER_00Thank you for providing that recap. And I remember being very inspired from your remarks at the conference. And again, hearing you describe and summarize the same points of meeting the moment. I think it's still extremely powerful and important for community college leaders, policymakers to hear. Thank you. Just wanted to thank you, Dr. Constant, for taking the time to have this conversation following the NCWE conference. I learned a lot more myself about the college and your workforce education efforts and partnerships. And I appreciate you coming back to your opening remarks, which again were really meaningful. So thank you again. And just wanted to ask if there's anything else that you'd like to share.
SPEAKER_01I would also add that we are engaging our students more so, even more so, in opportunities related to internships and apprenticeships. And so I want to encourage you, as I mentioned in my remarks at the conference, to just watch TCC because we're going to become become a national leader in the apprenticeship space. That's one of the things that we're focusing on now because, you know, as Evan talked about in his remarks, the student, how important his experience as an apprentice is was at Newport News Shipping. So we know that it is an important way in order to engage our students in the workforce. And so that's one thing that we're going to be laser focused on in the coming year. More internship opportunities for our students and definitely more apprenticeship opportunities. So these are some of the things that we are doing to help engage our students and listen to their voices and help them become the great citizens that we know that they are destined to be is by engaging them more every day in our spaces.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's fantastic. And I look forward to following and learning more about the expansion and internships and apprenticeships.
SPEAKER_01I will share though, you know, of course, it takes a team here at TCC. And I'm very fortunate to have just a wonderful president's cabinet to help me move this vision forward. And we do have a dynamic workforce leader, Art Hall. He's doing a fabulous job, he and his team here, as well as the other members of the president's cabinet. So it's not something that you know one person does alone. It really does take a great team, and I'm very fortunate to have one here at TCC.
SPEAKER_00Great point to end on. Thank you again, Dr. Constant, for this conversation and for your ongoing leadership for Tidewater Community College and beyond in the region there.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much. Thank you. It's been my pleasure to have this time with you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04Thank you, Mark. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00I appreciate you taking the time, and I wanted to start by asking you if you could share more about Virginia Peninsula Community College for any listeners outside the Hampton Roads region who may not be familiar with the institution.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. I would love to. I may be biased, but this is a very special institution, and you probably won't find a community college president who would disagree with their institutions being special. But what makes this institution special is just the population that we serve and where we sit in the nation. It's incredible when I think about we sit in the places where the American Revolution war was fought, right? We have signers of the American Declaration of Independence who lived a few miles from here. We also are the home to NASA Langley, and we're the home to one of only two agencies in our country that produces nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. We have a national science laboratory here, the second oldest iron institution in the country is in this area. We are so diverse in so many ways. We have a military-rich community. Our community, the students we serve, the faculty and staff I get to work with every day are so diverse in their experiences and their qualifications. And so it creates this incredibly rich tapestry. And our students are reflective of our community as our bifaculty and staff. And we offer every program under the sun except Rad Tech. But it's really such an incredibly beautiful place to work because of the people who live in this community and who work in this community. And between our 16-week programs that can lead to a six-figure salary to our two-year degree programs that can launch someone's career into a baccalaureate degree and beyond.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for sharing that background and just listening to you can hear your passion for the community. And building on that, Virginia Peninsula Community College, as you talked about, 16-week program to two-year baccalaureate transfer, offers a variety of responsive workforce training programs in particular that create pathways to careers with economic mobility for the community members you just described, and also meet the talent needs of regional employers in priority industry sectors, such as the maritime trades, as you also talked about. So I wanted to ask you if you could elaborate on how these programs support the college mission at Virginia Peninsula Community College of quote, changing lives and transforming the community through diverse, inclusive, and equitable education and workforce training, excellent support and services, and innovative partnerships. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04Community colleges live in this very special place. And I say that I have never attended a community college. And I remember being a senior in high school and not being sure what I wanted to do with my life and having guidance counselors intentionally steer me away from community colleges. And I was an honor student and I was in the science program. I was supposed to go be a medical doctor of some sort. I loved it and I was great at science and math, but I wasn't sure if that's what I wanted to do with my career. And I remember having a guidance counselor tell me specifically that community colleges are not for students like you. And at the time I was 17, I didn't understand. I probably assumed that maybe they didn't have advanced science programs, but it wasn't until a little bit later when I understood that that same guidance counselor was giving different advice to different students. I made this connection with, oh, that community colleges are really seen as like these second-class institutions. And it's just not the case. For over a hundred years, we have been a very robust and significant part of the higher ed ecosystem. And when I think about why that is, there are so many fields that really don't require, that truly don't require a baccalaureate degree or a master's degree. I always say if I disappeared for a week from my institution, I probably won't be missed. But if the air conditioning went out, right, or if the technology went out, or God forbid the plumbing, right, we would immediately be looking for the people who add value, right? We'd be looking for our HVAC technicians, we'd be looking for our cybersecurity folks, we'd be looking for our roofers. And so community colleges have always offered these pathways to economic prosperity that did not require a traditional baccalaureate degree. And so even programs like our commercial driver's license program, which is very short-term, and you can earn a six-figure living with a commercial driver's license program to be an HVAC technician, any level of welding, IT positions, entry-level healthcare positions like phlebotomy or EKG technicians, there are so many pathways for people who do not have a college education, but they have a high school equivalency and they need something to end the generations of poverty that they may have been exposed to, and they want to do it with little to zero debt. And when I think about how many students who cross the graduation stage who are off to earn more than my vice presidents earn, right? That is one of the things that we do here all the time is make sure that there are pathways. And whether the HVAC technician's credit credential is the only credential you'll have, or you're going to use that and leverage it to start your engineering program, right? That is one of the ways in which we meet the mission. We meet all of our students, no matter where they are, and we offer these stackable pathways to prosperity. And so if you need a way to get a job quickly, learn a skill quickly so that you can get to work and you don't have to worry about paying next month's rent or mortgage, we have programs that can transform your life in four weeks. And we have employer partners who know this. And so they are ready for us to produce talent quicker. And so our short-term programs, which is very, very, very unique, very unique to community colleges in general, is one of the ways we meet the mission at scale, is getting people the opportunity they need to just get into the workforce and earn a good living. And then if they want continued education and training, we have those pathways as well.
SPEAKER_00I so appreciate your description of the stackable pathways to prosperity and knowing that those pathways are not always linear. They're lattice and they can build. So those credentials lead to the job. And in some cases, employers may then support the employee in continuing, and they can come back to the college for continuing education, for a degree, whatever that is, to continue to advance in their careers and have those careers with economic prosperity while meeting the needs of those employer workforce skills across so many different industry sectors as you described. I wanted to talk about the focus of this podcast, the All in Student Pathways Forward podcast, amplifying community college student voices, especially new majority learners, students who may be working, maybe parents, maybe upskilling or reskilling through college workforce and CTE programs, as we've talked about, all whose voices are unfortunately less frequently heard by policymakers. And I'm always interested in learning about innovative ways that colleges elevate student voices and was really intrigued about the Virginia Peninsula Community College Presidential Ambassador Program. So I wanted to ask you, Dr. Brann, could you share more about it and how the ambassadors have helped shape more inclusive policies programs and supports for students at the institution?
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. It's something I don't talk about frequently is I grew up working in my family's business and they've been in the hospitality business forever. And I learned about being responsive to your clients from growing up in the hospitality business. And when I moved out of hospitality and IT into higher education, one of the things I noticed was that the adults who sit in positions of power, influence, especially decision-making power over policy in higher education, very infrequently seek the advice and guidance of those who they serve, of the students who they serve. And then when you do, right, anything you thought was going to be viable, students will immediately invalidate what you think was your best ideas. And so just growing up in this industry, I've learned that we need to always include not just the voice of students, but we have to give students a seat at the table, right? We have to empower them, right? We have to teach them and expose them and then encourage them to make their own voices be heard. So our student ambassador program is one of them. Our student government association is part of the governance structure at the college. And so we have student government members who sit on our college council, they attend our board meetings, they're invited to college council meetings, which they are part of the leadership of the organization. So we have deans, directors, vice presidents, AVPs, and student leaders. And we bring them into those circles and we make them speak up if they don't. But our students have no problem having their voices be heard. And I share that story because it's not me elevating their voices, as me making sure they understand that their job here is to be the voice of students, to be the voice of those who we serve. And so I usually bring them into the room and say to them, you can't leave the room without making one comment, right? Or I will go to that leader and say, what is your thought on that? What are we missing? I will say what that's led to at the college that I am very happy about is it has led to two ways, two significant ways in the last two years that direct how we spend the college's limited resources. And so two years in a row, our students came to us and they said, we need more support around emotional and mental health, right? And then the first year it was a suggestion, and then the second year was a demand. And so the college invested in getting emotional, mental health, and therapeutic resources for 100% of our students. This year they said we need physical fitness and wellness activities at the college. And we had a health center that had been closed since the pandemic and did not reopen it because of financial issues. I said to the students, I need you to raise your voice, right? I need you to fill out the student satisfaction survey, and I need you to identify wellness as a priority. I need you to come to these town hall meetings, I need you to come to board meetings, I need you to be the person that asked for this, and they did in droves, and they started a student fitness club, which now requires a wellness center, and they recruited students. But those are some of the things that I said, as president, you'd be surprised that I don't have autonomy, but we serve students. And if the students elevate their own voices, you'll get what you need. And now we have our wellness center that's been closed since the pandemic that will be open in January. They did the same thing about food services, and so part of me elevating the student voice is really teaching them how to elevate their own voices, teaching them how to advocate, teaching them how to get consensus, right? How to write notes that demand what they're paying for, and that's been something that's been incredibly successful. So I say to every SGA leader or every student ambassador, you want to lead this institution better than the way you found it. So what is the legacy that you will leave behind? And so now they get to say we got the wellness center reopened, the fitness center reopened. They get to say we got mental health support, we got food trucks on campus, right? Because all of these, not necessarily policy statements, because at my level, the local college does not write policy, our system writes policy, but we get to decide how we direct our resources, we get to decide how we invest student dollars and things of that nature. And so the mental health services was completely student-led, our fitness center, completely student-led, the variety of food and sustenance, our programming, all of those are things that we've been able to do in just the last two years because the students raised their voice. But it wasn't me elevating it, it was me teaching them how to use your collective voice to get the resources that you need. And that is one thing I'm most proud of is that they can then take that education and training and use it to improve whatever part of the world they will live in as adults.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's fantastic. What clear examples of students understanding the power really that they have to not just influence but to change decision making and resources at the college to meet their needs as the customer, and what fantastic leadership development and, as you said, that advocacy. And what they've also learned is how to navigate a specific system to get their voices heard and changes made that will benefit them and future students.
SPEAKER_04I don't think name dropping is a problem. But one of the things I think about is this college has a current sitting senator. Senator Danny Diggs was educated at this college, delegate Juwan Ward was educated at this college, and we currently have a student who I believe is the youngest elected official in Virginia. His name is Cameron Drew, and he is now on the Board of Supervisors in Surrey County. And when I think about what our students could potentially go on to do with their lives, you know, that's why it's important to get them comfortable elevating their voices because they could potentially be policy makers in companies or in higher education. And we have a number of local legislators who started their education here at this college. And so when we talk about that transformational impact they can have, it's not just the policy they affect at the local college level, but I think about what young Cameron Drew might be able to go on and do, right? Because of the investments we made in him and students like him at 19. Like what might he be doing at 39? And so when we talk about doing things at scale, it inspires me to know that the experience you get to have at the college level could have significant gains as you get older and you start learning how the power of your voice could actually shift your community or the country.
SPEAKER_00Wow. That's fantastic. Thank you for sharing all of that. It's super inspiring. And I appreciate learning more about the ways that the college and under your leadership is really supporting that growth and development for students in shaping decision making. And so speaking of Virginia Peninsula Community College and the Presidential Ambassador Program, April Langhorn, who's one of the current presidential ambassadors, was part of a really remarkable student panel at the recent NCWE conference that took place in Norfolk, along with Jasmine, who's a Tidewater Community College graduate, and Evan, an apprentice with the Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding. So I wanted to ask you, Dr. Brandon, what were your overall thoughts and reflections from the student panel? And did you have any takeaways on what the colleges are doing well to meet student needs and areas where they can do more?
SPEAKER_04One of the things that always gives me pause when I'm listening to our students is the understanding of how complex their lives are, how they are juggling multiple and competing priorities while also going to school, whether that be working full-time or working multiple jobs and parenting or caretaking. And when I listen to our students, I'm constantly reminded of the complexity of their lives and just the multiple and competing priorities and how any one thing, right, can threaten any one missing link, right? Someone says, I can't take care of your children this semester, like I promised, or I'm gonna have to change your shift. Any disruption creates this fragility and their ability to continue their education. And so every time I hear these panels and I hear about the students talk about themselves and their lives and what they're managing and how infrequently they ask for help, right? How much they're all trying to do themselves, it always reminds me that we serve a population of students that deserve more, more of our time, more of our attention, more of our commitment and resources. Our Virginia community colleges and community colleges across the country, I think one of the things we do exceedingly well is create this flexibility so that students don't have to choose. So whether that's between our course offerings, the modality of course offerings, whether they're in person or online, the way we expand our physical footprint so that we can place the education in the areas, whether they're rural areas or areas with limited transportation. Public transportation, we extend our footprint to make education more accessible. The scholarship dollars that we amass, the partnerships that we create with our K through 12 organizations, the internships, the apprenticeships, we have shifted our mindset in higher education from this place where students had the right to fail, right? They had the right to be responsible for the decisions that they made. So if you were a single parent or you decided to drop out of high school, that was your problem to solve. One of the things that I firmly believe that community colleges have done better and better over the last two decades is take on the mindset that we have a role in our students' success. And so whether it's helping them meet basic needs, providing the kind of support and coaching that they need to succeed, or our willingness to partner with employers or K-12 industries to make sure that our students have the fewest barriers for success. From something as simple as, and I shouldn't say it's simple, but modifying our class scheduling to making sure that they have coaching and funding. Those are some of the things that I think that our industry has done better and better over the last 20 years. One change how we think about student success and our role in it, but also as much as possible, reducing the barriers for students to enroll, be retained, and then earn the credential and then find successful places to work.
SPEAKER_00So they can focus on their studies and not have to think about transportation or childcare or work schedules or emergency. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04We like to say a flat tire, if you get a flat tire in August, right, right before your tuition is due, tires are really expensive these days. And you might delay your education or just to keep the lights on in your home. Being able to have students avoid making those decisions, it's one of the easiest things that we can do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I so appreciate your perspective. Thank you for reflecting on the student panel and the realities that today's students face. And so I'm thinking back to the NCWE conference in Hampton Roads. And at the conference, you were on a presidential perspective panel on the transformative power of community colleges and evolutions ahead in meeting the moment, which was the theme of the conference, meeting the moment for workforce education. I wanted to ask you, Dr. Brandon, could you share some of your insights from this discussion, including the opportunities that lie ahead in meeting the moment and the unique and collaborative approach in Hampton Roads to economic and workforce development that has driven inclusive economic prosperity?
SPEAKER_04Yes. I think meeting the moment resonated with me deeply because I've probably been one of the greatest critics of our industry of higher education and modern higher education, right? So when I think about the Harvards, right, and the Oxfords, like the educational institutions that began in the 1700s, I think they served a very specific purpose. And what the world or at least our country requires now of higher education is different from like the philosophers that traverse the campuses right in the 1700s. And so when I think about meeting the moment, I'm always thinking about higher ed and especially community colleges. How are we being anticipatory and responsive to the needs of the current world or just the country that we live in? And I think that some of the national concern about the value of education, for the last couple of years, there's been a lot of doubt about the value higher education plays, right? There's a lot of criticism about what we're producing, right? The product we're producing and how effective it is. Employers are telling us, I don't know if I want these college graduates because they get to my place of work and they don't know what they're doing. We've heard that frequently, right? Or I have to teach them again. And so we currently live in an environment where there's a lot of criticism and a lot of doubt that traditional higher education is valuable to the workplace, right? And all of us are going to college for a job. Very few trust fund kids, right? Most of us have to go to college because we want to be viable, independent contributors to society. And when I think about meeting the moment, I ask myself, as institutions of higher education, are we really positioning ourselves to meet the current moment, the current demand for talent and the different skills our employers are saying that they need? And not just employers, but we want to create citizens who can think critically, who can debate, right, who can be engineers in every sense of the word, right, who come up with ways to improve the world we live in, whether that be healthcare or policy or science. And I criticize our industry often about if we're meeting the moment and how long we're taking to get there. I think we are in this place where if we as higher education leaders don't get to scale the way businesses get to scale, right? If we don't get to market quickly, right? If we don't look at our programs and ask, is every single program I'm offering meeting the needs of employers? Is it meeting the needs of my community? Is it a viable pathway to prosperity? I don't know that higher education is infamous for acting quickly and for being tolerant of risk. I think in small pockets you will find leaders who are comfortable being the tip of the sword, who are comfortable taking risks, right? Well-informed risks, I think you'll find that in small pockets, but I don't know that we are getting there quickly enough. And I always think about the threat to any industry. And so when you have these online academies and when you have businesses coming up with their own training models, right? Is it because they want to help higher education or is it because they've realized that we can't get there quick enough? And so I won't mention a company, but there's a company out there doing some really interesting stuff to help faculty and staff at community colleges improve how we make AI interdisciplinary, right? Are they doing that because they love higher education or because they need interdisciplinary talent when it comes to AI? They need the next workforce to have data literacy, and they know we haven't gotten there quick enough. So they've developed a product that are inviting us to use their product. When I see those things, I don't believe it's being done out of the kindness of a business's heart. I believe it's because we have not acted quickly enough. And so when I think about meeting the moment, there's so much more we need to do quickly. And we cannot rely on traditional academic practices where we spend two to three years writing curriculum and vetting the curriculum. I think we have to become much more risk tolerant, right? And get something to market quickly and then let the end users tell us how it needs to be refined or be comfortable with pivoting every six months. And I think we can do a lot more to anticipate what is going on or just be aware of what's going on outside of the confines of our campuses and ask ourselves, how are we preparing our students for not the future of work? We used to talk about the future of workmarks. The future is here right now, right? How are we preparing them? Will a student who enroll with me today be prepared for competitive job market when they leave me in two years? And so when I think about meeting the moment, I always ask myself, are we doing enough to get our students ready for the jobs that are here right now?
SPEAKER_00It sounds like with that anticipating and being responsive to meet the moment, it's ensuring that the programs and services we offer do just that so that our students have the skills and are prepared for the workforce and able to get those good jobs.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_00Sounds like the college there in the region, it's a lot of communication and collaboration with your industry partners to understand what those trends are, what's changing industry to industry, right? Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_04I'm sorry I didn't mention the four community colleges actually in Hampton Roads. That's one of the things I think we do really well is the 17 cities and counties in Hampton Roads, even though we serve different portions of the region, we work collaboratively through something called the Community College Workforce Cooperative to make sure that we are having those conversations with industry leaders, that our advisory boards are filled with folks who feel comfortable telling us you're gonna have to change your curriculum, like we're gonna need you to do things differently. We work together in Hampton Roads to make sure that ultimately when our students leave us, they can compete for the jobs that are available in their backyard.
SPEAKER_00I think we all have a lot that we could learn from that model because it doesn't happen everywhere as an old workforce administrator. So appreciate your perspective there in recognizing the importance of anticipating the workforce changes and being responsive and sometimes asking the hard questions if programs aren't meeting the moment, aren't preparing students, and some things may need to shift.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00But if we're not moving quickly, you said pivoting every six months, that's a challenge, and we have to push.
SPEAKER_04We have to push, yes, I agree.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and what a great way to end. And I just wanted to thank you so much, Dr. Brann, for this conversation. I've learned a great deal. Getting to know Virginia Peninsula Community College, getting to know you and your approach as a leader, and in particular that responsiveness to industry, to the jobs, and also what you described in terms of the student experience and really giving students a seat at the table to help colleges and communities make better decisions and policies for that matter. So thank you so much for taking the time. I just wanted to ask you if there's anything else you'd like to share for this conversation.
SPEAKER_04Only two things, Mark. I do appreciate you providing this opportunity for us to elevate the profile of the work that's happening in the 1100 community colleges throughout the country. I think it's understated how much we do, but I appreciate any opportunity to share the great work. And the last thing I would share is that we remain as community colleges underfunded, considering the lift that we have and the value that we add to the communities. And I definitely think that if there's anything that conversations like this can do to shine a light on how states should be thinking about how they fund their local community colleges, I think it's an important conversation to have because we produce almost 50% of the undergraduates in the United States of America. But we're not funded as highly as we're regarded. And so I think there's a lot of room to grow for the states who have significant numbers of community colleges in their states.
SPEAKER_00Can't think of a more important message to end on. Thank you again, Dr. Brandon, for having this conversation.
SPEAKER_04My pleasure.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for having me, Mark. Glad to be here.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for joining me. I wanted to start by asking if you could share more about the Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding for listeners who may not be familiar with the employer and the apprenticeship model the Apprentice School offers.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So the Apprentice School was founded in 1919 by Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of HII, formerly Huntington Ingalls Industries. We have about 800 students, 25 different programs all around shipbuilding. We build nuclear power ships for the Navy. And what's so exciting about the Apprentice School is that students earn and learn. And so they come in making about $23, $24 an hour. And by the time they graduate in four years, they're making about $80,000. We also have a five-year apprenticeship program. That apprenticeship program prepares students for the business side of shipbuilding. A lot of times people only think about the technical type jobs around shipbuilding, but there's also the business side. And then we have an eight-year apprenticeship where students can actually earn a degree in engineering. And that's where we partner with the community colleges. Students take their prerequisites from Tidewater Community College in Engineering, and then they transfer to Old Dominion University, where they earn their degree in engineering and all paid for by the company. And so our students, day one, they are employees of the company. But when they graduate, there is no service agreement. They don't have to stay with the company. So they can earn their apprenticeship or their associates and bachelor's degree, and they can go if they choose to do so. To be honest with you, over 80% of them still stay with the company after graduation, after 10 years, as a matter of fact.
SPEAKER_00That's incredible. And what a tremendous model at such a scale, having 25 different programs and then the history being in the community for over 100 years as a significant employer. And that increase in wages is hard to digest, right? These are really good paying jobs and pathways to them through an employer that supports them along the way. So thank you for sharing that background on the Apprentice School and Newport News Shipbuilding. And you started to touch on this in the degree apprenticeship program you talked about, but I did want to ask you further how the apprentice school collaborates with regional higher ed institutions like Tidewater Community College and Virginia Peninsula Community College to support skills development and career progression for workers at Newport News Shipbuilding. What does that really look like? And what value has that brought to the organization?
SPEAKER_02One of the things that we really preach in the apprentice school is lifelong learning. And so, in order for our students to be able to move up in their career, because you have so many individuals that stay with the company. They come in at 18, 19 years old, and it's that aspiration where am I going to be in 10 years? Where am I going to be in 20 years? So our company does a very good job. We have tuition reimbursement where we actually pay for our students to continue their education post-aprenticeship. The local community colleges are our biggest partners. And so to be able to have local community colleges where students can crosswalk into growing their careers is very valuable for the Hampton Rose area. So we see a lot of students take advantage of that tuition reimbursement. And it's also a selective process within the school to be able to get in that pathway to become an engineer. And so since we only take 10 students a year, you also have students who aspire to be engineers and they continue their education by attending the community colleges and then going over into ODU. So we see a lot of that over the lifespan of people's careers. So to be a what we call a master ship builder, you have to be with the company 40 years. So just think about it, right? You're only in the printed school for four years. So what are you going to do in the next 36 years? Those individuals are the ones that continue their education. So I've seen people go to one of the local community colleges, transfer, get their bachelor's degree, then go on and get their master's degree, and then go on and get their PhD all paid for by the company, utilizing our tuition reimbursement system within the company because it's a benefit to every employee. And so a lot of my employees who work for me at the apprentice school, 80% are apprentice graduates, and most of them have bachelor's and master's degrees and utilize the local community college to be that stepping stone to get them to where they aspire to be in their career.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's really impressive to see the multitude of pathways and career advancement that the company provides with tuition reimbursement and that support. And really, we know that that is one characteristic of an employer of choice offering career advancement in general, but tuition reimbursement in particular that can support skills development, credential attainment into better jobs within the company.
SPEAKER_02Right. Absolutely. And people take advantage of it. It's a lot of times when I hear my employees say that I'm still here because the company invested so much into me. And so this is my way of giving back. And to also see the outreach of our graduates is so massive. We have a lot of folks that are teaching the CTE courses in community colleges that are graduates of their apprentice school. We have those that are in the high schools that are graduates of their apprentice school. We have those that are in other sectors and different companies, entrepreneurs that are graduates of the apprentice school. So because we've been around for a hundred plus years, we've touched a lot of sectors, particularly community colleges. We train, I think, the best trainers and instructors at the apprentice school. And so we get to share that talent across the ecosystem. I think that's very valuable for Hampton Roads.
SPEAKER_00As a region and community, and I think we'll come back to that topic in a bit, but just staying within community college partners, the recent National Council for Workforce Education conference took place in Norfolk and kicked off with a fantastic student learner panel that included a current Newport News shipbuilding apprentice, Evan Hernandez, along with students from Tidewater Community College and Virginia Peninsula Community College. And so, Dr. McCain, I wanted to ask you what were your thoughts and overall reflections from the comments made by Evan, April, and Jasmine as the three student learners on the panel during that part of the conference.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think you could have just done a conference of students, right? To be able to hear from students and get their feedback about their experience, I think it's pretty amazing to be able to hear from the perspective of one of the young ladies who has a daughter that's looking up to her, that's seeing her mom not only work full time, but also to be able to go back to school and to be successful. I think that that story really resonated with me. And that I worked 23 years in community colleges and to see that story over and over, and to see a family's socioeconomic status change overnight. And also the young lady who now has a job, right? She was able to take that training and to graduate at a level where she can walk into a job. And of course, Evan was a rock star. I saw him come in as an apprentice and grow up before my eyes. Now that he is a part of that very rigorous, competitive engineering program that we have in our school, and to be representing us and talking about his experience, I think was very valuable. So what did I learn? I learned that they're still doing great work, they're still impacting students' lives. And to be able to hear from a current apprentice is good for community college folks to know because they're always on that related technical instruction side. So to see a student that came up through Tywater Community College, took courses, and now at ODU, it just shows you the impact that community colleges make every day in our communities.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for sharing those reflections. And folks won't see this because the podcast is just the audio recording of the panel discussion. So folks won't know that at the front of the large ballroom, you were sitting right there cheering on Evan and listening attentively, and they're in support of him telling his story, which I thought was really cool too and appreciated. And I could tell Evan did as well. So thank you for that, and also for sharing your thoughts, particularly with your own community college leadership background.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you for the invitation. I was glad to be there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it is always a highlight to me of conferences when there is a student panel. And I agree 100% there could just be more and more opportunities to weave in student voice into these professional development and learning communities.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I do know there's more and more companies that are collaborating with community colleges to build out apprenticeships, in some cases, many non-traditional industries that haven't had apprenticeships and know there's really key elements to a dynamic and effective apprenticeship model. And I think looking at the size and scope of the apprentice school, any employer can really learn from that. That does lead me into the next question. So, what advice would you give to community college leaders who are interested in exploring and developing apprenticeship models with regional employers? How best to frame these exploratory conversations, especially when sometimes employers may have a certain narrative about apprenticeships or some reservations about apprenticeships in general?
SPEAKER_02All of your community colleges, we have, I'm saying we because it's where I came from, 23 years. So we have these councils around our different programs. And so businesses make up our councils, right? They're our partners. Have more conversations with them about standing up apprenticeships and showing that the community colleges have been providing the related technical instruction for years. I mean, that is the model. The majority of apprenticeship models have to have that community college present to be able to. Do that related technical instruction. Going back to when I was over workforce at a community college, I would bring those partners there. I will allow them to tell me what it is that they wanted to see. And I would make sure that we as a community college were flexible enough to be able to meet their needs. And my biggest supporter was the Chamber of Commerce in a town where, as the community college person over workforce, I could talk with my chamber to say, hey, can you facilitate a meeting with businesses? To be able to have a workforce board that would assemble businesses, having these partnerships and relationships with the community leaders that would convene us with the employers. Also, I think what's been attractive to employers is the fact that community colleges can figure out ways to get the related technical instruction paid for. And the businesses don't have to be responsible for that. One of the things that when I first took over the apprentice school, I asked the question is there any legislation around tuition? Are there any scholarships available? And then when we started talking with Tirewater Community College, we realized that there was some legislation around maritime that would pay for tuition. And so Tirewater Community College was able to come to the table and provide free tuition for students in the maritime space, which was us. And also a lot of times when you're coming from business, you don't know how to write some of the plans that are necessary to get a small business approved. Some small businesses don't have the infrastructure. And so community colleges can help with that infrastructure piece of taking what we do on the job and translating it into what that looks in academic spaces. And so to be able to have that curriculum development knowledge that community colleges provide, I think is very valuable as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I really appreciate your response there and advice for colleges that are exploring or piloting or really just engaging employers about this model, which we know is so effective in terms of outcomes.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00So I wanted to ask you, Dr. McCain, during the NCWE conference, you were part of a plenary session highlighting the dynamic partnerships in the Hampton Roads region, along with other business workforce and community college executive leaders on the panel that collectively have driven economic prosperity in the region. So I wanted to ask you, could you say more about what makes this collaborative approach to workforce ecosystems work effectively in the Hampton Roads region?
SPEAKER_02I think it goes back to the question that you previously asked about the partnerships and relationship with community colleges with businesses. Newport New Shipbuilding is the largest industrial employer in the state of Virginia, 26,000 employees. And so we're seeing the maritime industrial base, the Navy is investing a lot of money in Hampton Rose. And I think having a big business, a Fortune 500 company that's driving the conversations, that's bringing the stakeholders to the table. Our business is really involved in Hampton Rose. We invest $100 million annually on training from pre-K to STEM programs to giving money to nonprofits to training through the community colleges. We use the community colleges for our short-term training. We invest in their technology, we invest in their equipment, we invest in faculty. We are investing in the future. And that's why we invest over $100 million annually into education and training.
SPEAKER_00That's not a small number.
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_00It's hard to fathom. It's really impressive. Thank you for sharing that and really painting the picture of how that collaboration comes together and the role that Newport News Shipbuilding plays through all these different community partners. I know with the apprenticeship model, it builds in the voice of apprentices, but I still love to ask this question since this podcast is all about centering learner voices. So how does the apprentice school incorporate the apprentices' voices, the ideas of apprentices like Evan from the NCWE student panel into your business planning and then to any policy development?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so first of all, we have a student council. And so students vote for all of the leadership roles within it. They meet with me and let me know what they would like to see happen in the school. I think it's pretty remarkable to see a lot of the former presidents of the association morph into these really powerful leaders in the company. So it's pretty amazing to see the maturation of those. And they select a student body president every year. So every year for the past seven and a half years, I get to see the power of the student association, the changes that they make, the student voices that they get to infuse in our school for change for the better. I think that we are a better school now because of the student voice. I can remember having a town hall meeting when I first arrived. I'm a new leader. I didn't grow up in the shipyard. And so in the town hall meeting, they were like, you're coming from a community college. Right now, our current structure is that only a few of us, if you're selected, get to go to community college to earn their degree. You need an associate's degree to get promoted within the company. And many of us finish our apprenticeship and we can't get promoted. Are you going to bring an associate's degree to the apprentice school? And that was the question. And that was my call to action. And so now we are a degree-granting institution because the students asked for it when I first arrived. I have an open door policy where they can come into my office at any time and they can ask questions. When I host town halls, they're there to be able to ask the questions and to give me suggestions. And then there are times, you know, Mark, I meet with them and ask them for suggestions. I'm seeing this. What do you think about this? Like any other college, we provide the wraparound services for our students. Those that have challenges with mental illnesses and health, they'll come to me and say, hey, Dr. McCain, we need to have something around this. Can you bring a speaker or somebody in around this? So the beauty of the school, I would say, is hearing from the students. Having that voice is so impactful. As you can tell, I'm passionate about this question.
SPEAKER_00I appreciate the very tangible examples you offered, how you were able to incorporate that and make changes based on what their focus was, their interests, their passion, their needs. And I think for the apprentice school to have those student leaders continue on with the company and the application of those leadership skills to stay there and to continue to build within the same context. And also how the company is interested in incorporating worker voices into policy decisions.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And I'm a big policy person, that's my passion. And it's always how can we impact and improve policies that help students?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, thank you for that. I just wanted to say I've really enjoyed this conversation. I've learned so much about the Apprentice School even further at Newport News Shipbuilding, the collaboration into the community with community colleges and the university and many, many other partners. And so I just wanted to thank you for spending the time and having this conversation and wanted to ask if there's anything else you'd like to share.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. Thank you for having me. And I'm glad to be in the workforce space. And thank you.
SPEAKER_00Well, that will do it for this special episode of the All In Student Pathways Sport Podcast. We'll be back after the holidays for the next episode featuring a fantastic student from Lynn Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon, along with interviews with Lynn Benton Community College's president, Dr. Lisa Avery, and a conversation with both Samish Tagaga from Northwest Natural and Roger Tediewski from NC3, both regional and national partners to the college. This is the host, Mark Goldberg. Thanks for listening in and being all in on student success!