The Re-Employment Bridge Institute had over 25 workshops that had a wide variety of topics pertaining to industry and best practices.

Volunteers at the registration desk prepare for the first day of the conference. Left to right: Michelle McNulty with the Centralina Workforce Development Board, Kerry Motley with Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, and Emily Clamp with the Centralina Workforce Development Board.

Photo above article: Over 300 professionals attended the first Re-Employment Bridge Institute Conference sponsored by the Centralina Workforce Development Board.

Brian Fox shapes a flat sheet metal plate into a buldged out shape for application on car body fabrication. Motorsports Technology students from Rowan Cabarrus Community hone their body fabrication skills at Manpower to Horsepower race shop in Mooresville.

Don Landrum assembles the sheet metal skin on a GM Crate Late Model race car. Landrum and other Motorsports Technology students from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College hone their body fabrication skills at Manpower to Horsepower race shop in Mooresville

A ribbon cutting was conducted recently for SCC and Pfeiffer at the Groves Building in downtown Albemarle.

Help Us Do Better By Telling Us More

Every month the Centralina Workforce Development Board works hard at trying to bring you the most up to date and innovative stories from around the region. We try to incorporate information that can be beneficial to both businesses and job seekers, as well as promote the accomplishments that are being done throughout the Centralina region. We want to know what you think of the monthly E-Newsletter. We want to know if the articles are informative and if they are relevant to you and your organization. We’d like to know what you’d like to see more of in the newsletter, as well as what you’d like to see less of. We are looking to improve so that we can give back to you the most cutting-edge and informative newsletter out there.

Please send any comments about the monthly E-Newsletter to Emily Clamp at eclamp@centralina.org. If you are new to the newsletter and would like to see our previous issues please visit them at the Centralina WDB website. We thank you in advance for your feedback and your assistance in our rebranding process!

The Water’s Fine! - Manufacturer Invests in Iredell County

Niagara Bottling Opening 10th Bottling Facility in Mooresville

Niagara Bottling LLC, the largest family-owned bottled water manufacturer in the United States, has announced plans to open its tenth bottling facility in Mooresville, North Carolina.

The expansion will initially create 66 new jobs and make a capital investment of approximately $45 million. The facility will produce product for the company’s customers throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Dale Carroll, Deputy Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Commerce, along with several Niagara executives, made the announcement during a press conference in Mooresville.

Niagara will build a 310,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility on a 66-acre tract of land in Mooresville Business Park. The company is scheduled to be fully operational by March 2012.

“We are very excited about our expansion in Mooresville,” said Brian Hess, Executive Vice President of Operations and Legal Affairs. “We’re looking forward to not only servicing the needs of our customers in the region, but to being a good corporate neighbor. We can’t wait to get started.”

Niagara attributes its decision to locate in Mooresville not only to an operational and cost analysis that makes sense for the company, but to a great “community fit.” Hess shared that each of the entities involved came to the table in a true partnership effort.

“We have a lot of organizations working together on our project. The Town of Mooresville, the Mooresville-South Iredell EDC, Iredell County, the State of North Carolina, the SICDC, Duke Energy and the Charlotte Regional Partnership have all played a very active role in helping us make this decision.”

“In today’s economy jobs are of the utmost importance. Niagara will bring 66 full-time, high paying jobs to the area which is something we can all celebrate,” said Robert Carney, Executive Director of Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corporation.

“Niagara will be a great fit as an employer and hands on corporate citizen. I cannot say enough about the efforts and hard work of so many to make this project possible. Without the Town, County, MSIEDC, SICDC, Charlotte Regional Partnership and the NC Department of Commerce working together, this project would not have been possible.”

Recognized as an industry leader in both innovation and design, Niagara is known for having the lightest weight one-half- liter bottle on the market. The company’s Eco-Air Bottle® recently received a Drinktec Beverage Innovation Award for the Best PET Design. Niagara has also been recognized for its sustainability efforts to reduce its carbon footprint through both consumption reduction in materials and the implementation of various energy efficiency methods.

“We are pleased to have introduced a first-rate company like Niagara Bottling to our region and are delighted that the Town of Mooresville and the State of North Carolina convinced them to stay,” said Ronnie Bryant, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Charlotte Regional Partnership. “As Brian said, relationships are important. They were important in Niagara’s decision to locate in Mooresville, and they will continue to be important as the company becomes engaged in our region. Mooresville-South Iredell had a competitive product, but just as importantly, the people in the community offered the company a little something extra. The relationships that are beginning will grow over time and will play an intangible role in Niagara’s ongoing success.”

Please continue to look to the Centralina Workforce Development Board’s monthly E-Newsletter for updates on this exciting development in our region!

Healthcare Expansion for Cabarrus County

CMC-NorthEast Moves Forward with New $264.4 Million Tower in Concord

CMC-NorthEast expects to set a new timetable this fall for building a $264.4 million bed tower on its Concord campus. That project has been delayed for about two years amid the economic downturn and management changes at the hospital. But now the timing is right to move forward, says Phyllis Wingate-Jones, hospital president.

“We very much believe that having great facilities is part of how we need to position the hospital in the future,” she says.

She anticipates the eight-story tower will be completed within three to five years. It was originally slated to be complete in mid-2013.

The facility will house cardiac, maternity, oncology, renal and interventional radiology services and nuclear medicine. It also will have general medical and surgical beds.

Wingate-Jones notes several other projects have been under way during the bed-tower delay to improve access to care at the 457-bed hospital, which is part of Charlotte-based Carolinas HealthCare System.

For example, CMC-NorthEast broke ground last fall for CMC-Kannapolis, a $17 million free-standing emergency department. It is scheduled to open in January.

Also, the Gateway Medical Office Complex on Copperfield Boulevard is being expanded.

And CMC-NorthEast completed a $40 million surgery-center expansion last November. That facility includes six new operating rooms, boosting the center’s total to 17, as well as additional recovery bays for patients, notes Lisa Tadlock, executive director of surgical services at the hospital.

The new rooms, each measuring 870 square feet, provide surgeons with about 15% more space. That will help accommodate complex procedures and larger equipment, Tadlock points out.

She says CMC-NorthEast performed about 11,500 surgeries last year. She expects 2% growth in surgical procedures this year.

CMC-NorthEast also has added a 32-bed post-surgical floor, which opened in March.

The capital projects are part of the hospital’s plans to bolster its facilities and services to meet the tertiary-care needs of Cabarrus, Rowan and Stanly counties, Wingate-Jones says. “We have a big piece of work ahead as it relates to construction,” she says.

Major renovations for three of the hospital’s oldest patient wings also are planned, as are upgrades to the Mariam Cannon Hayes Center. Parts of the hospital date to 1937.

CMC-NorthEast also is developing clinical programs and recruiting medical professionals with expertise in the neurosciences, cardiac and cancer care, as well as programs targeting obesity.

Please continue to look to the Centralina Workforce Development Board’s monthly E-Newsletter for updates on this exciting development in our region!

Supercenter Makes Big Economic Splash

Newly Opened Wal-Mart Supercenter Adds 200 Jobs – Economic Growth for Lincoln County

When the new Lincolnton Wal-Mart Supercenter opened on Wednesday June 15, it added 200 jobs to Lincoln County’s economy with projections to add even more, according to store manager Steve Land. “We are still accepting applications,” said Land. Those interested in applying can do so online at www.walmart.com.

Land predicts that the new Supercenter will result in Lincolnton regaining its share of retail sales by local customers who may have been driving elsewhere to make purchases. That in turn should result in higher tax revenues for the city and Lincoln County from both sales and property taxes.

“Currently, a lot of people go to Cherryville, Hickory, or Gastonia depending on where they live in the county,” Land said. “With this new centrally located Supercenter, we’ll get those customers back.”

When questioned about projected tax revenues the new store would add to the county, Land said the corporate office has run those projections and that it would be significant.

While Wal-Mart water demand may not be in league with major textile companies, they should provide some boost to the city. The new store incorporates several features that shoppers are likely to appreciate. Based on customer feedback, all traditional grocery items are grouped together on one end of the store.

“One of the main complaints of people who shop in Supercenters is that they buy their food on one end but have to go all the way to the other end to buy their pet food, baby items and health and beauty supplies,” Land said. The new store arrangement greatly improves that issue by placing those items adjacent to the grocery section.

An expanded electronics department gives customers a chance to test drive game systems and computers prior to purchase and will offer a larger variety of products including 3D televisions and e-readers. “Electronics are quickly replacing the toy market for children and teenagers,” Land said.

Another improved feature of the new retail store is the location of the customer service center. As customers enter the main door, the open counter center is immediately to the right.

Using a new application called “Site to Store” pick-up, customers can order what they need on-line while at work or school and pick them up at the customer service center on their way home.

A large holding area adjacent to the center will be used to stage the orders until they are picked up by the customer, resulting in no waiting for an associate to retrieve the item from elsewhere in the store.

Additionally, a new smartphone application called “Aisle Locater” is being launched. From any smartphone or from in store kiosks, customers can type in what they are looking for and the application will tell them where the item is.

Land says that the retail landscape is changing rapidly. Everything in the new store is based on increased efficiency for today’s shoppers to save precious time.

The use of on-line shopping applications, smartphones, and more efficient grouping of merchandise in similar clusters are all aimed at improving shoppers’ experiences.

Please continue to look to the Centralina Workforce Development Board’s monthly E-Newsletter for updates on this exciting development in our region!

A Great Workforce = Company Headquarters for Mooresville

Amiad USA Moves Headquarters and Adds 25 Jobs in Iredell County

A water filtration company will move its headquarters to Mooresville and add 25 jobs to the facility over the next few years. Amiad USA also will be combined with an existing Mooresville business, PEP Filters/Arkal Filtration Systems, which is Israeli owned.

Amiad will move from Oxnard, Calif., to a 42,000-square-foot building at 120 Talbert Road in Acorn Business Park, says Tom Akehurst, president of Amiad USA. Some of the California employees will relocate to Iredell County, he says.

The company has 45 years’ experience with filtering systems for industrial, municipal and commercial applications. PEP Filters has operated in Mooresville for the past 15 years.

Robert Carney, Executive Director of the Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corp., says the relocation brings high-skill, high-wage employees to town. “That’s exactly what we work to bring to the area,” he says.

Please continue to look to the Centralina Workforce Development Board’s monthly E-Newsletter for updates on this exciting development in our region!

Business Spotlight – Rowan County

Turnkey Technologies’ Products Might Just Help Your Business!

From finely woven plastic hernia repair implants to large metal washing machine drums, Turnkey Technologies, located in Salisbury (Rowan County) makes the machines that make the things we need.

Turnkey built the machine that makes the handlebar on a Segway scooter. The watertight glovebox on a Wave Runner. The noisemaker on a sporty BMW.

“Something new walks in the door every day here,” co-owner and President Tony Ward said. “It’s a fun job.”

Turnkey has carved out a niche in the high-tech machining industry. The company works with leaders in the plastics industry to provide solutions to unusual applications, such as the tiny tracking ball on a cell phone, as well as the most common — the sponge attached to the dishwand.

Turnkey offers engineering, design, fabrication and support from product inception to launch, building just about any high-tech assembly and automation equipment someone can dream up.

Ward said he’s even built a few machines initially sketched on a napkin.

Once based in Concord, Turnkey in January bought the former Power Curbers building at 402 Bringle Ferry Road in Salisbury and spent $215,000 on repairs and rehabilitation. The company won the City of Salisbury’s first $25,000 incentive grant from the Industrial Building Revitalization program, designed to encourage companies to buy and fix up older, vacant buildings.

“This was the perfect building for us,” Ward said. “It just took some imagination to figure out that it was perfect.”

The building had been heavily used for years, and a water leak caused significant damage. Now bright and exceptionally clean — a requirement to lure business from medical suppliers — the building features new floors, walls, cabinets, conference rooms and offices.

The old Power Curbers cranes are still in place, but with a fresh coat of paint. The building’s 28-foot ceilings, which accommodate the cranes, helped attract Turnkey.

Robert Van Geons, Executive Director for RowanWorks Economic Development, said Ward has lived up to his promises. “He’s done a really great job in there, and he’s delivered on everything he said he would,” Van Geons said to Salisbury City Council, which toured the facility.

Bob Trundle, who brokered the real estate deal, said Turnkey and other high-tech firms represent a new direction for industry in Salisbury. “In this economy, we are out of the widget business. We cannot compete for commodities,” Trundle said. “The only way we will get back on the growth curve is to create value and productivity.”

While many companies create machines that assemble parts, few understand plastics and polymers like Turnkey, Ward said. All employees but the receptionist came from the plastics industry.

Customers from all over the world come to Turnkey to approve machines before they are shipped, Ward said.

Most customers are plastic molders that need a way to assemble plastic parts or attach plastic to metal. Turnkey establishes a process to build what they need. “There are all kinds of ways of doing it, but there is only one optimal way to do it,” Ward said.

Turnkey has a partnership with Branson Ultrasonics, which handles the company’s worldwide sales, and integrates Fanuc Robotics into its products.

Eventually, Turnkey would like to work with Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and help train students in robotics, Ward said.

The staff of 12 takes up just a portion of the 4,400-square-foot building. “We hope to fill it up some day, but the work’s gotta come first,” Ward said.

While Turnkey does build fully automated machines that require no human intervention, most products are standalone machines that need an operator. The operator places the pieces, usually plastic, in the machine and then must close a door before the machine drills, inserts or welds. Most companies no longer hire skilled machinists to operate lathes or use other dangerous equipment. Instead, companies want a machine to carve the groove, place the brass insert or make the weld.

Turnkey builds a machine from cradle to grave, coming up with the initial design and, some weeks later, shipping it with an instruction manual and service warranty.

Ward said Turnkey is already seeing benefits from moving to Salisbury, in addition to the $25,000 incentive grant. Hosting a lunch for clients is easier with the number and variety of restaurants and caterers, he said. “Salisbury is such an underestimated town,” Ward said.

He said he hopes other companies will take advantage of the city’s grant program to buy and rehabilitate old, vacant buildings. “We can turn Salisbury into the automation capital of the South,” he said.

Business Profile:
Turnkey Technologies, Inc.
Owners: Tony Ward, Mike Brusich, Paul Galvin
Location: 402 Bringle Ferry Road Salisbury, NC 28144-4417 (Rowan County)
Contact: 704-245-6437 – Phone; 704-245-6429 - Fax
Website: www.turnkeytechnologies.net
History: Established and incorporated in May 1999. Employs 12 people with combined experience of 75 years in plastics industry.
Future: Plans to hire two more employees in the short-term and grow to capacity in the long-term in the former Power Curbers building. The company has never laid off an employee. “When we hire someone, we take it very, very seriously,” said company president Tony Ward.
Toughest year: 2009, the only year the business hasn’t grown. For a time, the firm had no orders. “Once we had cleaned and painted everything we could, we stood there and looked at each other and decided we would sink or swim as a team,” Ward said. Every employee followed the company from Concord to Salisbury. “I’m very proud of that,” Ward said.

For more information on this local business please contact Emily Clamp at (704) 348-2732 or by e-mail at eclamp@centralina.org.

Expanding Airport Can Help Land More Business

Concord Regional Airport Needs Taller Air Traffic Control Tower

Concord Regional Airport has asked Concord City Council to match a grant that would help pay for a new air traffic control tower. The airport, which has been expanding to allow larger aircraft including 737s to land there, needs a taller air traffic control tower, city officials said.

“The tower is too short. We need a taller tower with more space,” said Dick Lewis, director of aviation for the city.

The airport is eligible for a $150,000 block grant between the city and the North Carolina Department of Aviation. The city would have to provide a matching grant of 10 percent or $16,667.

The funds will be used for continued design of a replacement air traffic control tower at a location to be determined. Due to Federal Aviation Administration Security regulations, the location of the proposed taller tower has to be changed to meet a 300-foot bomb blast radius requirement, according to city officials.

Lewis said the current tower is a level one tower and is not as busy as some of the other towers in the area. “We’re in a great spot because (air traffic controllers) try to retire out of Charlotte and then they come up here,” he said about staffing the tower.

Concord Regional Airport, near Interstate 85 and Poplar Tent Road, has 7,400 feet of runway and recently overlayed and strengthened its runways to support aircraft landing weights of up to 129,000 pounds.

Because it is a general aviation airport, it’s mainly charter and private aircraft that take off and land at Concord Regional – corporate jets and small, single-engine planes. Yet it’s also one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country. It is the busiest non-commercial airport in North Carolina and has a $110 million annual economic impact. The airport also supports 469 local jobs.

Lewis said the airport has about 62,000 departures and arrivals a year, on average and 7,500 reported passengers. A good number of those passengers are race teams.

Being home to NASCAR’s air force is one of Concord Regional’s niches. Several drivers and owners – including Jack Rousch, Mark Martin, Rick Hendrick, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Burton, to name a few – either own or lease hangars at the airport and house their personal planes there.

From an economic development standpoint, the airport has paid for itself, Mayor Scott Padgett said last month.

“When Electrolux came to Charlotte, their executives flew into our airport,” Padgett said. “Even when new investment is not directed to Cabarrus County, we still get the benefit because of that airport.” The city and county also gets tax revenue from the planes and the hangars at the airport.

Concord Regional opened in 1994, and the city has been making upgrades as it could feasibly could. It extended the runway to allow for heavier aircraft, like 737s, larger private jets and turboprop airplanes, to land there. But other upgrades are needed, like a new air traffic control tower.

Lewis said the airport needs a 60-foot tower, which would cost about $3 million, and an expansion of the current terminal building, mainly to accommodate passenger screening.

Please continue to look to the Centralina Workforce Development Board’s monthly E-Newsletter for updates on this exciting development in our region!

User-Friendly = Used Frequently

Cabarrus County Unveils New User-Friendly Website

Cabarrus County launched a new website this month that county officials say will be more user-friendly and efficient in its delivery of information.

“Our (old) site is five-years-old and is absolutely a dinosaur in terms of websites,” said county communications director Aimee Hawkins. “A lot of technology has changed and a lot of expectations have changed. It was time for a change.”

The 2011 redesign of the Cabarrus County website, which can be viewed at www.cabarruscounty.us, will make finding information easier for users, according to county officials.

The new site is intended also to increase the transparency of county operations and showcase the elements that make Cabarrus County a desirable place to live and work. The new site reorganized county data, grouping it by resident, business, government, news and a new category called “I want to…” that links site users to various services including online payment, application and other options.

Hawkins said Cabarrus County is one of the most digitally savvy counties in North Carolina with more than 90 percent of households online.

“More than 25 percent of residents go to the county’s website regularly for their information about the county,” she said.

Cabarrus County also uses Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to update residents on county news and events. Click the “Stay Informed” link at the top left side of the county’s homepage to sign up for updates through Facebook, Twitter and other sites.

The new Cabarrus County website makes it easy to share information with others. Individuals can click the “Like” button to instantly share information with their online community.

The Cabarrus County website is accessible at www.cabarruscounty.us. All four branches of the Cabarrus County Public Library provide public computer terminals with Internet access.

Please continue to look to the Centralina Workforce Development Board’s monthly E-Newsletter for updates on this exciting development in our region!

Small Business Resource Alert!

New Ventures Business Development, Inc, Offers Low-Cost Website Classes in Anson County

No matter how small, every business needs a website. Nowadays, people are looking online for services and products. Consumers don’t grab the phone book like they used to. A Facebook page is not enough.

Now, small business owners in Anson County can create their own website and learn how to make the changes and updates themselves. A series of four workshops is being offered through New Ventures Business Development, Inc. There is an upfront fee of $40 per website and you must commit to complete all four classes. In addition to the $40 fee, domain names can be $12 per year and website hosting can range from $0.00 to $120 per year.

The workshops are being taught by Merrie Datin of The Forever Inn Bed and Breakfast. Over seven years ago, out of necessity, Datin learned how to create her business website and has since created websites for a number of Anson County businesses. Now, Datin is offering her expertise to Anson County business owners in these hands-on classes where each student will purchase their own domain name and create their own small business website.

“You can learn how to do it yourself and you won’t have to wait for someone to do it for you and send you a bill," Datin said. "And, very importantly, you will own your domain name and website.”

Datin also includes search engine and online directory submissions in the workshop and comments: “It is essential that businesses claim their listing on the major search engines and local directories so their local customers can find them.”

Workshops include 10 to 12 hours of class time (four class meetings) and are limited to a maximum of four to six people. The fee for the workshop is per website so the class can be taken by a couple or partners. You’ll have a published website at the end of the four workshops. Classes are held at South Piedmont Community College.

To sign up or for more details, contact Merrie Datin at (704) 695-1304.

Community leaders came together at the Healthcare Forum held on Tuesday June 21, 2011 to help develop, plan and implement innovative workforce and economic strategies to expand the healthcare sector.

Senator Hartsell also spoke at the event introducing the new Opportunity North Carolina program.

The individuals who have been hired by Racing Electronics through the ONC Program and the ones currently enrolled pose for a quick picture.

Dr. Doug Eason, President of Mitchell Community College spoke at the dedication ceremony on Tuesday June 28, 2011.

Twenty-six counselors representing ten of the North Carolina Community Colleges were on campus recently for training. The ReadyMinds DCC training program is designed to address the specific challenges and concerns involved with engaging in distance counseling and to help counselors incorporate distance methods into their current services to students.

4th Annual Career Academy Is A Hit!

CAFÉ Program Introduces Stanly County Educators to Business and Industry

The CAFÉ (Career Academy for Educators) Program held on June 21-23, 2011, was a huge success. The CAFÉ program offered Stanly County educators a chance to become familiar with the many opportunities offered by Stanly Community College; but perhaps more importantly, the program helped educators and local employers identify the educational and social skills necessary for employees to become successful within their company. The CAFÉ program is sponsored by the Centralina Workforce Development Board, Stanly Community College, Stanly County Chamber of Commerce, and the Stanly County School System. Centralina WDB Youth Program Specialist Natasha Pender participated in all 3 days of the program.

CAFÉ participants are key players in public school education, post-secondary education, and the business sector; each having access to a vital network that promotes a free exchange of ideas in which to improve future endeavors for all involved.

CAFÉ was introduced to Stanly County educators by the Stanly Career Readiness Taskforce in 2007. The planning, execution and sponsorship of the annual event is provided by Stanly Community College, Stanly Chamber of Commerce, Stanly County School System and the Centralina Workforce Development Board. Marion Kinley, Director of Business & Industry Training at Stanly CC, Kathy Gardner, Dean of Continuing Education at Stanly CC, Terri Dunlap, Director of Continuing Education Records and Registration at Stanly CC, and Shannon Batchelor, Career and Technical Education Director for Stanly County Schools comprised the committee responsible for implementing the CAFÉ program.

CAFÉ offered participants a glimpse into some of the businesses that call Stanly County home. The three day event allowed teachers to earn continuing education credits. During CAFÉ, participants toured and were given presentations on the following Stanly County businesses: Chicago Tube & Iron, Home Savings & Loan, Stanly County Airport, Preformed Line Products, Pfeiffer University, and Monarch.

Tom Ramseur, Centralina WDB member and Director of the Stanly County Chamber of Commerce is one of the primary sponsors and coordinators of this event. He stated “I don’t believe that there is any other [Workforce Development] program which can reach this amount of educators each year and make an impact in such a positive way. This new knowledge of their experiences in CAFÉ will impact so many students, teachers and parents each year.”

Mr. Ramseur was not alone in his positive response to the program. Stanly County School teacher Penny Breslin had this to say of her experience with CAFÉ: “A goldmine of pertinent information that can easily be passed along to students, teachers, and other stakeholders who are involved in career and/or economic decisions in Stanly County. Yes, would recommend to others! Extremely informative! A successful program incorporates good communication, engaging learning experiences, and mutual respect. CAFÉ had it all! It’s always nice to have more information to counsel students on career choices, and the economic impact of which careers they choose. Thanks again for sponsoring CAFÉ!”

The three-day event concluded at the Albemarle City Hall and was complete with several more learning opportunities. Participants heard from Tom George, Director of the Small Business Center at Stanly Community College and also from Betty O’Neal, an instructor at Stanly County Community College. They talked about opportunities available at the college. Participants took part in “Speed Networking Sessions” – an opportunity to visit with business representatives, ask questions and learn what opportunities may be available to students.

The featured guest speaker for the concluding session on Thursday was Bob VanGorden, Chairman of the Centralina Workforce Development Board. Bob spoke about the importance of the work that teachers do and how the CAFÉ experience gives them an opportunity to be able to promote Stanly County business in a new and exciting way.

The Career Academy for Educators is a great way to connect business and industry with schools and education.

The Centralina Workforce Development Board and the Centralina WDB Youth Council are proud partners with the Stanly Community College, Stanly Chamber of Commerce, and the Stanly County School System. We are excited to see local partners coming up with innovative ways to connect our youth to their future. For more information on the CAFÉ Program or on the Centralina WDB Youth Council, please contact Natasha Pender at (704) 348-2725 or npender@centralina.org.

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Business and Educators Partner for Our Youth’s Future

Lowe’s Awards $25,000 Grant to Statesville High School

Lowe’s recently awarded Statesville High School in Iredell County with a substantial grant. Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation awarded the school a $25,000 grant to outfit its classrooms with additional technology.

The school will purchase six additional Smartboards, interactive whiteboard systems, said Principal Larry Rogers.

With the additional Smartboards, 36 classrooms will be outfitted with the boards, according to Instructional Facilitator Traci Fox. She said the boards have and will continue to increase student interaction and engagement.

Rogers said providing classrooms with more technology is a task they’ve been working on for some time. “We’re well on our way to completing a project where every classroom has a Smartboard,” Rogers said.“We’re very thankful to Lowe’s, especially in these tough economic times -- it couldn’t come at a better time.”

Rogers said the boards will continue to advance student learning. “We believe that we need to move children to the 21st century and having Smartboards is 21st century learning,” he said.

Lowe’s Human Resources Manager Terry Love said the foundation has earmarked $300,000 for community improvement and public school projects. “Lowe’s appreciates education is a cornerstone to building bright futures,” he said. “We’re all about reinvesting in our community,” he added.

The Centralina Workforce Development Board and the Centralina WDB Youth Council are proud to see local businesses reaching out to the region’s youth, the region’s growing workforce. The Board congratulates Statesville High School for receiving this exciting grant for their school. For more information on the grant, on the Centralina Youth Council, please contact Natasha Pender at (704) 348-2725 or by e-mail at npender@centralina.org.

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Racing Towards Greater Chances in Life

Iredell-Statesville Schools Auto Tech Teams Land in Victory Lane

For the seventh straight year, the Iredell-Statesville Schools (I-SS) Automotive Technology Center won the Ford AAA Automotive Skills Competition. The state competition was held last month at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, and four teams from Auto Tech competed placing first, third, fourth and seventh.

Brandon Kasch of Lake Norman High and Karl Bittenger of West Iredell High earned first-place honors. Their instructor was Preston Frye. “I was pretty stoked,” Kasch, 17, said.

Jordan Hall and Jordan Spencer, both of North High, finished in third place, while Michael Mey and Travis Runkles, both of South High, were fourth and Nicholas Whitson and Derek Horton, both of West High, were seventh.

The teams won a combined $174,000 in scholarship money for their finishes.

Competing teams were tasked with performing diagnostic tests and repairing a “bugged” car. Each car had 20 “bugs” that had to be fixed within 90 minutes.

Kasch and Bittenger advance to compete in the National Ford AAA Auto Skills competition in Michigan, where they will take on 50 other teams from across the country. “We’re going to take home first place,” Kasch said. “I seriously feel we can win nationals.”

Iredell-Statesville Schools has placed as high as fourth place in the national competition, according to instructor Dwayne Troutman. Instructors are Ashley Pope, Troutman, Shane Fox, Rusty Parker and Martin Paige.

The Centralina Workforce Development Board and the Centralina Youth Council are strong partners with Iredell-Statesville Schools. We are excited to see our region’s youth embracing opportunities that lead them to their future. For more information on the Centralina WDB Youth Council or on the Auto Tech program, please contact Natasha Pender at (704) 348-2725 or npender@centralina.org.

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School is NOT Out for the Summer

Union County Public Schools Holds Summer Leadership Conference for Educators

Now that the school bells have been silenced for the summer, Union County Public Schools principals can focus their sights on preparing for next year.

Part of this preparation includes utilizing the summer months to help sharpen the pencils of learning. One tool in this effort is the annual UCPS Summer Leadership Conference, a tradition that has been around as long as the school system.

The conference, held this year at Parkwood High School on Tuesday June 21 and Wednesday June 22, 2011, offered professional development for principals, assistant principals and central office administrators, on topics such as how to incorporate globalization into the curriculum, how to reduce the dropout rate and boost the graduation rate, and how to improve education through innovations in teaching.

The focus of this year’s conference centered on UCPS Superintendent Dr. Ed Davis’ initiative called GIG (Globalization, Innovation and Graduation). He began the conference touching on leadership skills, using the leadership styles of President Abraham Lincoln.

“We need to learn from those who have gone before us,” he said. “It’s been said that if we don’t study and learn from history, we’ll repeat the same mistakes.”

Davis mentioned six main leadership tactics that he gleaned from Donald Phillips' book “Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times.” These are: preach a vision and continually reaffirm it; set goals and be result-oriented; honesty and integrity are the best policies; exercise a strong hand - be decisive; persuade rather than coerce; and get out of the office and circulate among the troops.

As part of the globalization focus, Jennifer Vollmann from New Global Citizens and Penny McGuire from World View offered insight into how to bring more globalization into schools. Vollmann informed participants about opportunities to combine service learning and globalization for students in their schools, while McGuire discussed ways to infuse globalization into the standard course of study.

“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a school system to educate him or her to be globally competent and competitive,” McGuire said.

Vollmann recognized Piedmont High School students for their Hands of Hope project that raised money for the national effort, House of Hope, a project established for children with AIDS in Uganda. Elizabeth Brewer, 16, a rising junior; Kiersten Porter, 17, and Maggie VonCannon, 17, both rising seniors, presented Vollmann with a check for $300 that was raised from selling donuts and T-shirts.

Some of the school system’s administrators, Central Services staff and Instructional Technology Specialists offered “breakout sessions,” including those that addressed integrating and understanding the new social media and ways to prevent students from dropping out of school.

Also during the conference, 52 schools were recognized for their efforts to be globally aware. Nineteen schools were designated as a UCPS International School, the highest ranking offered. Thirty-one schools were named UCPS Global Partners Schools and two schools were given the UCPS Goodwill Ambassadors School designation.

The school with the most points for the second year in a row was Cuthbertson High School, with 86.62 points. New Salem Elementary and Porter Ridge Middle schools had the next highest scores, respectively, with New Salem getting 83.7 and Porter Ridge Middle getting 83.2. This is also the second year that New Salem has been named an International School.

The designations were based on a points system, with 75 points or above getting the highest designation, 50 to 74 points winning the second designation and 35 to 49 points attaining the third designation.

The points system allows schools to earn points based on such things as travel of staff and students, having cultural awareness days, international days and different strategies and components of their school improvement plan that are designed to promote globalization and global education.

The Centralina Workforce Development Board and the Centralina WDB Youth Council are both strong partners with Union County Public Schools and is happy to see educators thinking creatively on how to reach our youth, our future workforce. For more information on the Summer Leadership Conference, please contact Natasha Pender at (704) 348-2732 or by e-mail at npender@centralina.org.

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