Work-Based Learning Creates a Win-Win for Henry Businesses and Students

 

WBL

Work Based Learning (WBL) has created a WIN-WIN for Henry County students and local businesses. The program is not simply work release, but rather an extension of the high school classroom learning in a non-traditional laboratory setting. It is an opportunity to truly apply, in real world settings, what the student has learned through a related program of study.

The newest company to become a Henry County Schools Work-Based Learning partner is Inline Plastics. Inline is a manufacturer of plastic food packaging containers that you may find at Publix and other grocery and convenience stores. Inline recently hosted an open house for Work-Based Learning teachers, parents, and Henry County WBL students, with approximately thirty students attending. The company’s Human Resources Manager, Dana Greene, and Christina Hinz, Henry County Youth Apprenticeship Coordinator, have been working together to make this partnership happen.

Hinz describes Inline Plastics as “a manufacturing company that understands the importance of the WBL program and mentoring students to build the local economy. The company is currently in the process of hiring 2 to 4 WBL students and they are setting the bar high for other manufacturers in Henry County.”

A WIN for Business

Henry County companies like Inline Plastics have found that participating in the Work-Based Learning program:

  • helps prepare future employees by exposing them to real world work experiences
  • creates a source of skilled and motivated future employees with valuable experience and proven job skills
  • reduces the cost of training and recruitment, matching interested and invested young people with employers in a wide range of industries
  • helps reduce employee turnover
  • encourages employer involvement in the curriculum development process, increasing employer visibility in education
  • lets employers communicate required job-specific proficiencies to educational personnel

A WIN for Students

The WBL program also benefits Henry County high school students by:

  • establishing a clear connection between education and work
  • increasing motivation and retention by showing the relevance of academic and occupational instruction
  • providing opportunities to explore possible careers and enhancing skill development
  • developing workplace responsibility and positive work habits and attitudes
  • encouraging completion of secondary education and enrollment in post-secondary education
  • providing opportunities for leadership
  • learning from skilled professionals

Is a work-based learning program right for your business?

Each Henry County High School has a WBL instructor ready to assist your company in joining the over two-thousand employers in Georgia who have invested in the Work-Based Learning program. Click HERE for more information.

 

Sources:
https://schoolwires.henry.k12.ga.us/Page/113288  
https://gawbl.org/index