Most Ayden-Grifton High School baseball players would consider a career in the sport to be the field of their dreams. But their coach wants them to have a look at other fields as well.
That’s why members of both the junior varsity and varsity teams took part in Grow Local last month. The initiative is designed to take students on field trips from their school campuses to area companies to learn about jobs that are available in their own backyard.
Since its launch in 2018, the effort, hosted April 17 by the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Catalent, the Greenville-ENC Alliance, Pitt County Economic Development and Pitt County Schools, has grown to reach thousands of students each year.
“Grow Local really introduces the different career opportunities that are in our community,” said Kimber Stone, the chamber’s director of development and member engagement. “It really opens the door for the students to the different kinds of pathways.”
For this year’s Grow Local week, which concluded April 19, nearly 3,500 students interacted with representatives from about 100 participating businesses and industries. A few, including Beacon Dental, Telco Credit Union and the U.S. Army marketing team, paid visits to the schools. But most, including Davenport Farms, ECU Athletics and the Greenville Yard Gnomes, invited students to their home turf.
The openness came as a surprise to Kali Beach, who began in August 2023 as Pitt County Schools’ director of career and technical education. In Hyde County, where she worked before, business executives often opted to come to CTE classrooms.
“I tell people all the time that you can teach a kid about a career in class, and you can talk to them all day about it,” Beach said. “But the best way for them to actually learn, the best way for them to see if this is something they actually want to do, is to see it with their own eyes.
“When you’re on the outside you think people don’t want all these kids coming through (where they’re working),” she said. “I was really excited to see that all these companies are allowing students to actually come and physically see what they’re doing … understanding that if you want these people to come work for you later in life, then you’ve got to also put yourself out there.”
For Grow Local, Pitt Community College put several of its trade industries on display outside of the student center. Tony Gallardo, director for industrial systems technology, invited school groups into the Industrial Systems Tech Lab, a trailer outfitted for teaching concepts ranging from hydraulics and pneumatics to robotics.
“It’s like walking into the international space station,” he said, laughing. “I start explaining and you can see the (students’) gears turning. They understand it’s all about technology.”
Gallardo said that while many schools offer CTE programs in auto mechanics, construction and welding, students have less exposure to industrial systems.
“They just don’t know about me, but every seat should be full, men and women,” he said. “There are so many people retiring, the demands (for workers) are so high. That’s what’s going on everywhere.”
Also at the PCC site, along with displays for air conditioning, heating and refrigeration technology and the commercial driver’s license program, was Be Pro Be Proud, a mobile workshop experience that tours the state to promote careers in technical trades. The 18-wheeler contains more than a dozen simulations, using virtual reality technology to allow students to experience what it’s like to perform jobs including utility lineman, welder or construction worker.
Tyleina Roberson, a junior at Pitt Academy, got a feel for driving a tractor-trailer, which she said was kind of like a video game. “It’s a simulation game; it’s fun,” she said.
Pitt Academy was one of 20 middle and high schools, including early colleges, to participate this year. That number is up from 16 schools in 2022.
Alexis Bryson opened the opportunity to every middle schooler at Stokes School, where she teaches STEM for elementary students and CTE for grades six through eight.
“I wanted them to get out into the real world and see real people doing real jobs,” she said following a tour of The Daily Reflector. “They don’t ever get to see this side of things.”
Some students seemed fascinated by the press room, where they had their first chance to look at newspapers being printed. Sixth-grader Auri Coppage said she enjoyed asking questions to an editor and a reporter.
“I got to go around the building and got to see different compartments and how each of them worked,” she said. “People don’t all do the same jobs. It actually is a really good mindset to keep as I get older and I’m considering what job I want to apply for. This is actually a great start.”
Stone said students often associate a single kind of career with a particular industry, instead of realizing the variety of jobs needed to operate a business.
“An example I always like to share is if you ask a middle school student what kinds of jobs are at ECU Health, they’re just going to say doctors and nurses,” she said. “Most middle school students have no idea the different career opportunities that are there.”
When Ayden-Grifton Instructional Coach and Athletic Director Corey Skinner started bringing baseball players to Grow Local three years ago, it was to help them identify careers in athletics beyond the playing field.
“They get to see all the ways to stay involved in sports on a non-athletic level,” he said. “There are support roles, whether it’s sports medicine, whether it’s training, coaching, strength and conditioning.”
Besides ECU Athletics, his team members have toured a physical therapy practice.
“A couple of years ago when we went to Youngs, we had a young man who wanted to be a physical therapist, and now he’s in school for that,” Skinner said. “I think it’s a lot because of that trip to Youngs that day. He got to see what those people do and it was kind of like athletics.”
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