On April 14, 2023, the Northeast Ohio Regional Tech Prep Center held a SuccessBound Conference for 123 educators and business partners in the northeast region from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm. It was a strategy to connect Northeast Ohio businesses and educational partners to help high school students find employment opportunities in the region. Michelle Washington, Business & Education Program Specialist for the Office of Graduate Success from the Ohio Department of Education, recognized the three-star and four-star Business Advisory Councils for Northeast Ohio. We had three breakout rooms for business representatives and post-secondary educators to interact with each other in a speed-dating format rotating every 20 minutes to allow them to transition through each room.
SuccessBound Conference allowed for new connections and opportunities to form to assist with meeting the in-demand pathways. We focused on five in-demand pathways: manufacturing, health, information technology, construction, and transportation. We also had a career panel that focused on career exposure and partnerships by providing a platform for traditional schools and career technical schools to share best practices around; Elementary Exposure, Middle School (MS) Exploration, High School (HS) Immersion, College and Career Readiness, College Partnerships, Partnership with Trades, District Wide Career Exploration, Mentoring programs, and MS Foundation Courses. The table below provides the breakdown of the panelist:
Our speaker panel included:
| Dan Murphy/David Kirven | Engaging the Trades |
| Ruth Ray | Engaging Middle School Students |
| Mike Andric/Henry Muren | Engaging Businesses |
| Jodie McInnes | Engaging Elementary Students |
The table below provides the breakdown of those in attendance:
| Business Partners | 31 |
| ODE | 2 |
| Community Partners | 20 |
| Post-Secondary | 17 |
| Secondary | 53 |
Thank you all for joining us this year at our Northeast Ohio Regional Tech Prep Successbound Conference. For those of you who were in attendance, please make sure you fill out the post-event evaluation if you have not already done so!
Northeast Ohio Regional Tech Prep Center 