Education
Welcome to Season 5 of Education Empowered! Kicking off the new season, we are joined by Chris Lowery and Jordan Skeen. Chris is the Senior Vice President of Workforce, Careers and Adult Strategy, at Ivy Tech Community College. And Jordan is an academic coach at Central New Mexico Community College. Both Chris and Jordan have a passion for helping students achieve their highest potential and the best, most-rewarding careers possible. Today, they share how they do just that at their respective schools.Looking outside of normal channels, and finding ways to stay connected with their students and communities were critical for their organizations to stay strong in the last year. Chris and Jordan tell us how they met students' needs in challenging times, and how those changes have helped them continue to nurture lifelong learners.Key Takeaways: Intentionality Intensified: At both higher education school systems, the leadership has been forced to be intentional with reaching out to their students directly on a regular basis so they can continue to get the kind of feedback about what technological, educational and career support they need. Many of the virtual aspects of this community and communication will continue even as students come back to campus. Quality Career Placement and Coaching: The graduates of community college systems around the US have always had a lot of competition when entering the workforce, but especially through this pandemic the schools have taken it upon themselves to be more pointed with the real-world tools they give to their students, enabling them to get the best jobs on the market. Opening Up Opportunities to More Individuals: Some of the job placement opportunities, career programs and funding that have been available in the past were there for a smaller segment of the population to benefit from. During the pandemic the leaders of these organizations found the need to open up the requirements allowing even more educated and qualified individuals to participate in and benefit from the career-starting infrastructure they already had in place.---If you enjoyed this episode, and want to explore these topics in greater detail, be sure to check out the second edition of Salesforce’s Connected Student Report. The survey includes insights from more than 2,000 students and staff across 10 countries about student and staff wellbeing, career readiness, flexible learning options, and so much more! You can find the report at sfdc.co/connectedstudentreport.