Warner Robins, Ga. – Last week the Bibb County School District (BCSD) and MidSouth Community Federal Credit Union (MCFCU) held a ribbon cutting for the opening of MCFCU’s student-run branch at the William H. Hutchings College and Career Academy (HCCA), whose part-time student-employees feature three Central Georgia Technical College (CGTC) dual enrollment students.
To celebrate the opening, the credit union held a Community Day on Saturday, February 3, 2018 featuring a CGTC Athletics Ticket Giveaway at the career academy located at 1780 Anthony Road in Macon.
The Community Day and ribbon cutting celebrated what Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, via a letter to HCCA’s principal, Dr. Cassandra Miller Washington, called “steps” to opening “boundless opportunities for Bibb County’s students.
“Providing real-world, relevant, work experience aligned with their Banking and Finance pathway will prepare these students for rewarding careers,” Cagle wrote.
“I applaud MidSouth Credit Union for being an active leader and business partner – your commitment to serving students by providing them lifelong literacy will have a widespread positive impact on their future and your community.”
Jamie Jordan, the High-Demand Initiative program coordinator at the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said at the cutting that partners in the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), including CGTC, “talk a lot about a lost decade;” students who either finish or drop-out of high school and go into a minimum wage job and struggle for the next ten years.
“Every employer we speak to is facing an aging (working) population,” he said speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We have to make sure we take the young learners that we know to be dynamic, and ask, how do we help them be successful in their fields?”
“I think when we take models like this, bring generations together, and allow them to learn from each other, that’s when I think we see success,” he said.
In addition to earning credits as a part of their high school pathway, students will work part-time with MidSouth and in the case of the three students, earn tuition-free, college credit by being enrolled in CGTC’s Dual Enrollment program.
For more information on Dual Enrollment at CGTC visit, http://www.centralgatech.edu/highschool.
[Photo] Students at William H. Hutchings College and Career Academy now have a unique opportunity to work and learn at the MidSouth Community FCU student branch.