Education

Supporting tens of thousands of regional jobs, the education industry is increasingly focused on funneling rising talent into the local workforce.

According to Riverbird Research, the concentration of jobs in the education industry across an 18-county area of WNC was on par with the national average in 2022.

The 2017-2022 jobs growth rate of -6% was greater than the overall -1% rate of change, supporting employment of 33,809 individuals earning an average annual wage of $43,369 excluding supplements. The education industry in Buncombe County supported 9,085 of those jobs in 2022, followed by Watauga County’s education facilities which supported 6,164 jobs.

Private Schools

Private schools also play a role in the education industry. With 115,311 students enrolled in private schools statewide, 69.3% at religious schools and 30.7% at independent schools, 7,647 of those students attend a variety of private schools in WNC, according to NC’s Department of Administration’s Division of Non-Public Education.

In WNC, each county except for Ashe and Graham has at least one private school, for a total of 98 private schools in the region. Out of the state’s 828 private schools, the region is home to 12% of these institutions.

These 98 private schools employ a total of 1,529 teachers across the region, 784 of which work in Buncombe County. Henderson County has the second highest number of private school teachers, 206, followed by Rutherford County with 84 private school teachers.

Facilitating Connections Between Educators and Career Awareness for Students

Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023, the North Carolina Business Committee for Education is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization focused on making connections between education systems and employers within a variety of industries.

Executive Director Caroline Sullivan said the NCBCE works mostly with public and public charter schools and at a high level with the state’s community college system. NCBCE, with the help of Fidelity Investments, created a Navigator platform for educators across the state providing employer-posted career spotlights, guest speakers, engaging activities, and early career awareness, making it easier for teachers to connect to employers.

“This works as a super-connector in cities,” Sullivan said. “We can work across different systems and see how things fit, better connecting educators and classroom learning to career pathways.” Career awareness programs begin with students as early as 5th grade via a program called Students@Work. This program allows students to visit business environments, either virtually or in person, to learn about the variety of career paths available in different industries.

According to Sullivan, it is important to start with middle school grades because that is when students begin making their own academic decisions. Choices such as which math class to take will affect other choices, and students need specific math classes for certain STEM programs as they move into those types of careers.

One impactful story Sullivan said she heard was during an agriculture session at a middle school conference. An owner of a dog food company discussed the elements that go into dog food production, relating the processes to the importance of math. She heard him say, “If I measure out an ingredient and the decimal point is in the wrong place, I just killed my dog.” She said stories like this reinforce the importance of math in real-life applications for students.

Deputy Director Morgan Crawford said it is statistically proven that middle schoolaged girls often lose interest in STEM aspects, and it is important to keep that interest rolling.

“Early exposure to a variety of careers can create an understanding of the layers in industries,” Crawford said. “There are new careers being created all the time, some spinoffs of others, and spawning different interests early is crucial.”

Sullivan said employers are also realizing the importance of growing talent while kids are still in school instead of waiting until graduation. She quoted Secretary of Commerce Machelle Baker Sanders when she said employers have to tell their story earlier because people won’t know about it otherwise.

“Without employers telling their story, we will be at a huge disadvantage,” Sullivan said. “With the speed of change and innovation, it’s critical for professionals in the private sector to volunteer to talk to students as subject matter experts. Textbooks take a long time to catch up, and professionals can share concepts that interest students that don’t yet exist in textbooks.”

NCBCE also provides several opportunities for professional development.

“Professional development for teachers is huge,” Sullivan said. “This helps teachers get excited about things in the classroom, working with others, and sharing ideas. You can hear the excitement in their voices when they participate in these programs.”

Crawford said though there is no direct measurement, she would like to think professional development and other ways to participate and receive support relating directly to your field of interest make educators more likely to stay in their field.

Before the pandemic, NCBCE held middle school conferences hosting teachers from all districts in NC, providing an engaging day of learning and information for teachers to take directly back to the classroom. Crawford said these chances for connection and networking can make continued on next page

35,998 Jobs in 2017

33,809 Jobs in 2022 -6% Job Growth -2,189

2017-2022 Change in Jobs

$43,369

2022 Average Annual Wage Excluding supplements

N/A

Payrolled Business Locations in 2022

The overall concentration of jobs in the 18-county region was on par with the national average in 2022.

The 2017-2022 jobs change rate of -6% was greater than the state’s overall -1% rate of change.

Self-employed jobs are included in the estimates.

Source: Lightcast, 2023.1 a big difference in teachers’ mindsets, as teaching can feel sort of isolating.

“Though you’re in a school full of people, it’s just a teacher and the students,” Crawford said. “There’s not a lot of time for networking. Schedules can be tough, and networking and professional development provide opportunities to brainstorm, share best practices, and get excited about what you are doing. This is beneficial in any job and can make for a better overall experience.”

Crawford and Sullivan agree that the more positivity there is in a job, the more willingness there is to stay in that job. They said this is why the organization compiles these direct resources across a variety of platforms to encourage connections, expand career exposure, and create more engagement with the community as a whole.

Cherokee Central Schools Offers Programming Allowing Students to be Career-Ready

Becoming a tribally-operated school in 1990, the Cherokee Central School is accredited by AdvancED, and a Board of

Directors works as a policy-making entity to operate the schools.

Serving preschool through 12th grade, Cherokee Central School served more than 1,400 students in the 2022/2023 school year.

Conversely to many public schools, Associate Superintendent Beverly Payne said student enrollment continued to grow through the pandemic.

“The tribe took a stance to protect its people during COVID,” Payne said. “They closed reservation borders when infection rates went up. The Tribal Council watched numbers closely, and the numbers were lower within the reservation compared to outside.”

Comprising about 350 faculty and staff across all departments, Payne said 46% are enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, 4% are enrolled members of other tribes, and the remaining 50% are non-native. Superintendent Consul Girty said, “We are definitely one of the top employers on the Qualla Boundary.”

Funding for the school comes from a grant through the Bureau of Indian Affairs instead of the NC Department of Public Instruction, and according to Payne, the Tribal Council supplements quite a bit of that funding. Much of the supplemental funding comes from gaming dollars, and the Board of Directors approves the budget annually. While funding does not come from the state, she said CCS still follows the NC course of study and assessment system.

Girty said the preschool is directly tied in with the elementary school, and they try to follow a similar schedule so the kids are ready for Kindergarten. They eat in the same cafeteria and are familiar with the day-to-day schedule, and they have found this helps young students be successful.

“We just had our largest graduating class, 98 students, and this was the first graduating class that had students from the first year of the CCS preschool,” Girty said. “There were 15 or 16 from the original 39 in that first year, and both the Valedictorian and Salutatorian attended preschool here.”

Payne and Girty said they are at the tail end of an expansion project for CCS. They said the pandemic actually helped, as the project had just begun when the shutdown started. While learning was remote for a number of months, renovations began on existing buildings in addition to three new buildings being added on campus.

Payne said part of the expansion allowed the school to offer more programming. CCS offers several programs to develop career awareness to help keep students in local jobs upon their graduation. For the last three years, the schools worked in conjunction with the Qualla Education Collaborative to offer a Real Life Expo.

“It’s a simulation of ‘real life’ where tribal entities participate in exposing students to opportunities and careers,” Payne said. “In the simulation, students are given various careers and life circumstances, and can see how they are affected by different circumstances and see who can get to the end with money left over. They learn what it may be like to have certain jobs, and the program has a really high engagement with the students.”

There is a high school career fair and a variety of career awareness programs that allow students to visit job sites or tribal organizations and shadow leaders, according to Payne. This helps them learn what careers are available within different businesses and organizations. Tribal HR also works with students in conducting mock interviews and practicing resume writing.

Many career and tech education courses are available within the curriculum, and Payne said that is unusual for a high school of that size. Additional programs have been incorporated over the last couple of years via an American CTE program grant, which also allowed CCS to hire an ESTEAM director.

The curriculum includes a variety of middle and high school courses including drone tech, coding, digital design, and animation, according to Payne. Skilled trade courses are also available for high school, such as culinary arts, agriculture, business, automotive tech, and health sciences.

“The high school has partnerships with Job Corps, which offers students additional types of career and tech ed courses to help get students career-ready,” Payne said. “The director is working on partnerships with another local organization offering different training such as masonry. We have these in place for interested students to take advantage of, and some of them even pay students to learn. It’s a great opportunity for our students.”

A Long-Standing Education Institution Brings Life to a Small Town

Started in 1856 as an effort from Baptist families to provide a higher education opportunity, Mars Hill University is the oldest higher education institution that is still on its original site in Western North Carolina.

With 1,200 total students including those enrolled in evening adult classes, graduate studies, and traditional undergraduate students, Director of Communications

Mike Thornhill said the school transitioned from Mars Hill College to Mars Hill University to better reflect its position. The shift in how the school approaches higher education and the addition of more continued on next page graduate programs were reasons for the transition.

With 35 majors and minors, programming at MHU is determined based on interest and what the University’s leadership feels might be strong or what the University may be able to provide a unique take on, according to Thornhill. An example is bringing Zoology out of another biological science major, which is unique for a school of that size.

In Madison County and surrounding areas, Thornhill said there is a need to provide more options in entrepreneurship and business administration. Because of that, a new Entrepreneurial Leadership Minor under the Department of Business Administration will be launching this fall. There is a committee of faculty and administration that examines industry, education, and workforce trends to determine if they are long- or short-term before programs are developed, according to Thornhill. Several considerations must be reviewed before a decision is made to add or cut a program, and lots of research goes into making that choice.

“We have to look at what fits with the faculty and resources we already have versus what we would need to add,” Thornhill said. “We take a holistic view of where it fits in the University’s plan, the cost of running the program, the resources needed to execute them, as well as what potential enrollment might be.”

In addition to a variety of majors and minors, Mars Hill University offers extracurricular activities that provide opportunities for community engagement. There are Greek organizations, interest organizations and clubs, and pathways for community service.

Several NCAA Division 2 athletic programs are available on campus. The MHU football program won the Mountain Division Conference recently, and Thornhill said the cross country program also does well in the region. This is a draw for students to come to MHU, as they may want an opportunity to continue performing in sports but may not want the experience of a large university.

Clog dancing, a traditional Southern Appalachian dance, is also offered at MHU. Thornhill said the clog dancing team, Bailey Mountain Cloggers, has won national championships and traveled on an international tour to countries including Greece and Portugal. A connection to local culture and ambassadors for the University, the team also performs at First Friday events on Main Street in Mars Hill. Focused on attracting students from the community as well as attracting students from other areas, Thornhill said MHU has a large recruiting base outside of the region. Students relocate to Mars Hill from Eastern Tennessee, Florida, and other states. In addition, the University offers a scholarship called the Local Lion Promise which offers students from Buncombe, Madison, Mitchell, and Yancey Counties a 50% discount on their tuition.

Historically, most of the University’s faculty and staff resided in or near Mars Hill, according to Thornhill. He said now that commuting is so much easier, many of the University’s 250 faculty and staff live in areas like Asheville, Weaverville, Burnsville, or Johnson City, TN.

“Observationally we bring in between 1,000 to 1,200 people per year that are here from August to May or longer,” Thornhill said. “We try to be a good corporate citizen and want to be a big part of the local community. The University leases downtown buildings to local businesses, and it’s great to be a part of and have a positive impact on the thriving business community. We try to be as involved as we can in Madison County and Western North Carolina.”

Thornhill said MHU would love to grow and increase enrollment, but they must do it sustainably. It’s important to make sure students and staff have places to live and eat, there are staff and support for the growing University community, and there are resources available for the needs of a larger campus.

“We’d love to take enrollment to 1,500 as a near-term goal, but the main goal is to continue to ensure a high quality of education,” Thornhill said. “Mars Hill University is an unsung gem with good programs, and we will continue to bring more awareness to the University as we move forward.”

Blue Ridge Community College’s Direct Economic and Workforce Contributions

Blue Ridge Community College is a business in itself as well as a creator of jobs for WNC businesses, according to Blue Ridge Community College President Dr. Laura Leatherwood.

With 570 employees, 220 full-time and 350 part-time, BRCC is one of the larger employees in the region, according to Leatherwood. The college provides services to students as well as the community and the college’s partners, and there is always a positive return on the investment.

With an operations spending impact of $22.1 million, a student spending impact of $4.5 million, and an alumni impact of $101.6 million, the total economic impact of the college was $128.1 million with 2,416 jobs supported, according to an economic impact analysis from November 2021.

More than spending, the alumni of the college also impact the community because once they graduate or receive their credentials, there is a greater chance of them staying in the community. “Students may participate in work-based learning with a local company and may be offered a full-time job,” Leatherwood said. “This workforce pipeline is what the community college is here for.”

The student body of more than 10,000 individuals consists of mostly WNC locals, according to Leatherwood. Some do come to the area from right across the SC state line, though the primary focus is to serve Henderson and Transylvania Counties and residents of WNC.

BRCC currently offers more than 200 courses in 30 different areas of study. There are also fast-track workforce training programs aligned with the primary sectors of the community including healthcare, advanced manufacturing, early childhood education, skilled trades, civil and environmental engineering, as well as information technology and cybersecurity which benefit all sectors. Leatherwood said every program has an advisory committee of eight to 10 area businesses, usually based in a particular sector. These committees understand what is actively happening in these sectors, what they are currently struggling with, and what skills students will need to have to successfully move into the workforce. They know what technologies are being used in each industry, what continued on next page the college needs to teach, and what resources need to be provided.

“Our programs are created as a response to the community and the region,” Leatherwood said. “Our partners, communities, and counties let us know what they need now and what they will be needing in the next 10 years. It’s my job as president to align our programs with workforce development boards as a strategy to create skilled workers for those areas. What we don’t want is for students to earn their degree and say that they needed more of something but weren’t taught that.”

The Small Business Center at BRCC works with both students as well as other members of the community. Leatherwood said rural areas are driven by small businesses, and it’s important to the college to continue providing opportunities for small business startups and teaching them more about marketing, increasing sales, business basics, financing, and how to deploy technologies.

This helps small businesses to expand and create jobs for themselves.

In the Fall of 2022, Leatherwood said the SBC hosted 105 counseling sessions for small business owners, and since the 2017/2018 fiscal year, the BRCC’s SBC directly contributed to 84 startups in Henderson County.

Apprenticeships are the college’s fastest-growing program, according to Leatherwood. The college works with 45 employers across a variety of programs to offer an Earn while you Learn program allowing students to earn a paycheck while they are getting a degree. The idea is for students to continue employment after graduation, and they currently have a 90% retention rate within that plan and are adding more disciplines each semester.

“It’s important to remember the number one struggle is the workforce,” Leatherwood said. “Businesses often call the community college to see if students are interested in a particular line of work. When we can help them, we’re almost acting as a recruiting arm for these companies. Conversely, not everyone knows how to seek jobs in 2023. Everything is remote, and we are teaching people how to create a resume and market themselves on platforms like Indeed. It’s mutually beneficial; we are helping companies and helping individuals by matching them up.”

Starting this fall, BRCC will add several new majors for students, including Entrepreneurship and Artificial Intelligence. Leatherwood said programs like these can help to expand businesses and help students to think differently about opportunities and how to add value to companies.

“Creativity and innovation are the name of the game,” Leatherwood said. “It doesn’t matter what you are doing or where you are going, you will have to take some risks. Our goal is to help students figure out where they need to be and what their next step is to get there.”