Wayne Community College has been honored as a Bellwether Award finalist for the third time.
Its submission for the national citation that recognizes community colleges’ best practices was titled “Apprenticeships: An Integrated Academic Cohort Model.”
WCC’s apprenticeship program competed in the Workforce Development category that recognizes strategic alliances that promote community and economic development.
The Bellwether Awards are widely regarded as the nation’s most competitive and prestigious recognition for community colleges, and are the only awards evaluated by experts and practitioners in the field. Thirty colleges were chosen by a national panel of judges to compete for awards in three categories.
The awards are presented by the Bellwether College Consortium which addresses the best practices at community colleges during its Community College Futures Assembly,
WCC’s integrated academic apprenticeship model provides apprentices with academic credit and on-the-job training in industrial maintenance occupations. Apprentices are employed full time while they attend class one day a week to earn industry certifications and work toward an associate in applied science degree.
The goal of the apprenticeship program is to supply a skilled workforce for a growing industry in a community that is facing flat population growth combined with increasing retirements while also providing an avenue for advanced training and financial betterment for employees.
WCC currently has three maintenance technician cohorts with Smithfield Foods and one with a consortium of employers. The model has been replicated in three other states by Smithfield Foods. Based on the success of the program, Smithfield Foods was named 2020 Employer of the Year by ApprenticeshipNC.
During the Community College Futures Assembly in San Antonio earlier this year, delegations from the finalist programs’ institutions presented on their programs. In addition to the Workforce Development classification, finalists vied in Instructional Programs and Services and Planning, Governance and Finance categories.
Each category was judged by a panel of national experts within that group. The judges considered finalists’ materials and the quality of their presentations.
The winner in each category was announced and all finalists were presented trophies.
The presenting team from WCC included President Patty Pfeiffer, Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning Coordinator Kristie Sauls, Smithfield Foods Talent Acquisition Specialist Clarence Scott Jr., and Smithfield Foods Apprentice and WCC student Dwayne Jones.
“Wayne Community College continues to develop and be recognized for innovative programs that provide students opportunities for educational attainment and income mobility. The Smithfield apprenticeship is a prime example of these efforts,” said Pfeiffer.
“Being recognized as a Bellwether finalist in the Workforce Development category is a testament to our commitment to changing lives,” she said. “We have been a finalist three times for three different efforts to help students be successful.”
WCC’s other Bellwether finalist honors came in 2020 when its Quest Academy for higher-level English Language Acquisition students was a finalist in the Workforce Development category and in 2019 when its Clearing a Path to Student Success Initiative was a finalist in the Planning, Governance and Finance category.
The Community College Futures Assembly, now in its 29th year, convenes annually as an independent national consortium for key higher education leaders to work as a “think tank” in identifying critical issues facing the future of community colleges, and to recognize Bellwether winners and finalists as trend-setting institutions.
The Bellwether College Consortium is a group of colleges charged with addressing the critical issues facing community colleges through applicable research and the promotion and replication of best practices addressing workforce development, instructional programs and services, and planning, governance, and finance.
The Bellwether Award is sponsored by the Alamo Colleges District in San Antonio, Texas.
For more information, consult the Community College Futures Assembly website at www.
Wayne Community College is a public, learning-centered institution with an open-door admission policy located in Goldsboro, N.C. As it works to develop a highly skilled and competitive workforce, the college serves 10,000 individuals annually as well as businesses, industry, and community organizations with high quality, affordable, accessible learning opportunities, including more than 165 college credit programs. WCC’s mission is to meet the educational, training, and cultural needs of the communities it serves.