Brent James of Georgia Power meets with Colquitt County High School students during a job fair Thursday. The job fair is a key component of Project Purpose, a union of education and business leaders working to help CCHS students find their path forward after graduation.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — Project Purpose is born out of a simple idea: Every student should be able to leave Colquitt County High School enrolled in college or technical college, enlisted in the military or employed. 

A combined effort from local businesses, the school district, Southern Regional Technical College, the Moultrie-Colquitt County Development Authority and Chamber of Commerce, Project Purpose is in its second year in Colquitt County. 

The program started last year with a job fair that connected CCHS seniors with local businesses. The event allowed students to ask first-hand questions to industry leaders who are looking for the next generation of workers. Some students were even able to leave the event with jobs secured after graduation. 

This year, Project Purpose coordinators wanted to “take things up a notch,” according to Moultrie-Colquitt County Development Authority Director Barbara Grogan. 

“We saw some success with the job fair last year but we wanted to take things up a notch this year. We wanted the students to see what future employers are looking for. Whether they want to go to secondary school, enlist in the military or go right into the workforce. Project Purpose is not only about connecting the students to potential employers but also showing the students a path to get those jobs or get into those college programs or get into the right military position to do something they want to do. Something they can find purpose in,” Grogan said in a previous interview.

While the project does mostly focus on seniors, the program has begun to include other grade levels, according to CCHS Principal Dan Chappius. Juniors at CCHS are now doing the same prep work that seniors did last year and have continued this year. Even some C.A. Gray eighth and ninth graders visited SRTC back in January for a campus tour and an overview of dual enrollment program offerings. 

As seniors prepare for graduation in May, Chappius and the other members of the school staff have been taking them through what Chappius describes as the “graduation plus one planning program.”

“Our seniors have been working on a plan during their senior meetings throughout the year,” Chappius said in a recent interview. “The students sit down with a counselor and they work to identify some things they might be interested in after high school. We are hoping to help them identify what they would like to do after graduation. That plus one. Then after we identified the goal, now we work with them to say, ‘OK. Now that you have this goal in mind, what do you need to do to accomplish that goal?’ That stems from things such as taking the right classes here at the school, looking into post secondary education and what programs are offered that would be useful to the student. It’s all about getting the student the tools they need to be enlisted, enrolled or employed by the time they are ready to leave.”

As students work to identify their purpose in school, the district, the MCCDA and the MCCC are working to connect those purposes to businesses around the area. CCSD chief communications officer Angela Hobby described how the school is working with local businesses and SRTC to engage the students with local employment and post secondary opportunities. 

“As the project continues to grow we want to build those connections between the local businesses and the district and even with SRTC,” she said. “The program is designed to help connect students with the skills they need to help the local workforce. We know that there isn’t one mold we can fit all the students in. We know not all the students are going to stay here in Colquitt County. But we want to show that there are options here in the community for gainful employment and other ways for the students to meet their goals after graduation.”

One of the most recent examples of Project Purpose’s connections was the SRTC Senior Day. Held Thursday, the event was hosted by Southern Regional Tech and brought seniors to the campus on an all-day tour of the school’s many programs. Through the different meetings and paperwork that students have filled out through Project Purpose, students got first-hand experience of programs offered by SRTC. 

Students were also able to visit with businesses that were present for the event’s Industry Exposure Fair. 

“The Senior Day fair and tour is just a way for students to go through all those programs that might interest them. Then sitting down with employers and having those conversations that can lead to jobs in those fields or getting the knowledge for them to pursue the right avenues to get those jobs,” Grogan said. 

SRTC’s role in Project Purpose comes in their hope to connect students with the educational opportunities they would need to get jobs in their desired field, according to Brittany Bryant, SRTC director of marketing and public relations. 

“You see these industries and business owners in the room and they’re talking about what kind of employees they are needing. We want to give them that pathway to get these students the training that they would need. They can get that local training here in things like automotive repair, welding, health information technology or any of our other programs,” Bryant said in an interview at the event.

Students aren’t just getting business exposure outside of the classroom. The school district regularly brings community and business leaders as well as representatives from various colleges and universities around Georgia to speak to students, according to Chappius.

Described by Chappius as the “Peach State Tour,” colleges and universities around Georgia coordinate with the high school to get students first-hand accounts of the programs these schools have to offer. 

“We bring colleges and universities from around the state to the school so students can easily see what the different options are and how they might fit into their programs,” Chappius said. 

Most recently, the school hosted Morehouse College on Feb. 9. 

Along with the colleges, the Development Authority and CCHS coordinate with local businesses to have speakers come and discuss their industry with students. 

“We want our students to know these businesses are out there,” Grogan said. “We also want these businesses to know that this future workforce is available and they’re willing to do what it takes to become active members within their community. Giving these industry professionals the platform to engage with the kids. That’s what it’s all really about.”

The school has hosted Grogan herself, representatives of Chick-fil-A, Universal Forest Products, Georgia Power and others throughout the past few months and “continue to recruit more and more,” Grogan said.

The project also spans beyond solely interacting with students. Teachers will soon be engaging in the Teacher Immersion Tours starting in March. CCHS teachers will visit industries beyond Colquitt County so they can connect these teachings back to their classrooms, according to Hobby. 

“The tour is something we wanted to focus on. How can we help our teachers apply the necessary knowledge of industry practices to their lessons… It’s simple for the CTAE side of things but we want those more traditional subjects, our math or our English teachers to be able highlight important points they can learn in the tours… How are things like algebra and a student’s writing ability going to be able to get these kids jobs one day,” Hobby stated.  

Throughout the rest of the spring semester, Project Purpose will be hosting other events culminating in the Exploration Day Job Fair, which will be similar to the event held last year that kicked the project off. 

“We have so much in this project,” Grogan said. “It goes so far and involves so much. We have our Get2Work Boot Camps, which highlight different pathways students can go through led by industry leaders. We have our immersion tours and our Exploration Day. We are continuing to bring industry professionals to the schools and we are very excited to be bringing this to more and more students each year.”