Eastern North Carolina – [March 10, 2025] – STEM East, an initiative of NC East Alliance, recently hosted a successful Lunch and Learn series aimed at strengthening career pathway awareness in eastern North Carolina. The sessions brought together career development coordinators (CDCs), middle and high school counselors, and career center advisors to discuss regionally significant career clusters and strategies for integrating industry connections into education.

There were three sessions held across the region, hosted by Craven Community College’s VOLT Center, Edgecombe Community College, and College of the Albemarle (CoA). The sessions engaged a total of 88 attendees representing 25 school districts and six community colleges. Participants explored the career clusters currently supported by STEM East’s Industry in Schools program, which include:

• Aviation
• Biopharma
• Blue Economy
• Energy Sector
• Health Science
• Smart Agriculture

These industries play a crucial role in eastern North Carolina’s economy, and STEM East is committed to ensuring that students have access to career pathways that align with their interests and regional workforce needs.

The Lunch and Learn sessions featured a presentation from Jamie Vaughn, Senior Analyst for Market Intelligence at the North Carolina Department of Commerce, who provided insight into labor market data and career development plans for students in grades 5 and 10. Natasha Roberson, a career center coordinator at Martin Community College, also co-presented, emphasizing the importance of equipping educators with the tools to guide students toward sustainable, in-demand careers.

“Educators are key in connecting students to career opportunities,” said Bruce Middleton, Director of STEM East. “By increasing awareness of industry needs and integrating real-world career examples into classroom instruction, we can better prepare students for the workforce and keep talent within our region.”

Each session also highlighted NCcareers.org, an essential resource for students to explore career options and build career development plans.

With Industry in Schools Leadership Institutes serving as a foundation, STEM East continues to collaborate with regional partners to enhance career exploration opportunities. These efforts ensure that educators can effectively guide students toward pathways in high-growth industries that support economic development in eastern North Carolina.

For more information about STEM East’s workforce development initiatives, please contact:

Trey Goodson
Chief Information Officer, NC East Alliance
Phone: (252) 814-0484
Email: goodson@nceast.org

About NC East Alliance & STEM East

STEM East is an education and workforce development initiative of NC East Alliance, a regional economic development organization dedicated to promoting growth in eastern North Carolina. Through programs like Industry in Schools and collaborative partnerships, STEM East bridges the gap between education and industry, ensuring that students have the skills and knowledge to thrive in the region’s workforce. The NC East Alliance model of combining economic development, education, workforce development, and marketing is a unique and innovative solution for rural economic development.

This Lunch and Learn series is another step forward in preparing eastern North Carolina’s students for meaningful, high-demand careers while strengthening the connection between education and industry.

Pamlico Community College has announced that they are joining the STEM East Network. Pamlico is the 11th Community College to join the network which includes 29 school districts in eastern North Carolina. The growing consortium is an initiative of NC East Alliance that aims to better connect economic development, workforce development, education, and industry in eastern NC. “One of the main goals of this initiative is to build awareness of what job opportunities exist in eastern NC and to train people for those opportunities. Our Community Colleges are an important partner in helping us achieve that goal” said Wesley Beddard, STEM East Consultant.

“We are thrilled to join with regional partners in advancing this important initiative,” said PCC Acting President Michelle Willis-Krauss. “We are excited about advocating for STEM education and ensuring students know about the STEM-based career opportunities available for them in this region. The STEM East Network also will bring professional development opportunities for our instructors. Pamlico is happy to be on the team.”

There are 9 opportunities this summer for teachers and community college staff to learn about the job and training opportunities available within the region in a variety of industry clusters. These Industry In Schools Cluster Workshops will be hosted at STEM East member community colleges throughout eastern NC. The workshops will highlight 6 regional industries which are Health Science; Aviation; SmartAg; Blue Economy; Green Energy; and BioPharma. During these 2-day workshops, participants will learn about the assets available at community colleges that help train the workforce for local job opportunities. They will also leave prepared to take the information they learn and incorporate it into their respective classroom settings.

For more information on the Industry In Schools Cluster Workshops, please visit https://www.stemeast.org/indsch. Industries located in eastern North Carolina are invited to participate in industry dinners that will be held the first night of each workshop. This will be an opportunity to network with local teachers, community college staff, and to learn how you can get involved in growing the workforce and economy of eastern NC.

NC East Alliance has added four new team members to STEM East to lead the development of four industry clusters for the STEM East Industry in Schools Initiative. Dr. Ben Thigpen will lead the Smart Ag Industry Cluster. Dr. David Lewis joins as the lead of the Aviation industry cluster. Lisa Jackson will be the lead of the Blue Economy Cluster. The fourth lead will be Dr. Valerie Bridges who will serve as the lead for the Green Energy Industry Cluster. The industry cluster leads will coordinate schools, community colleges, and industry for their respective clusters. This will include coordination of teacher workshops, development of regional cluster job fairs, and facilitating engagement of industry within schools.

Dr. Ben Thigpen recently retired from Jones County Schools where he served as superintendent for four years. Dr. Thigpen grew up in Duplin County and has 35 years of service in public education. In addition to serving as superintendent in Jones County, he has served as an English teacher and a principal in Duplin County. “I am excited to begin work with the Smart Agriculture cluster of eastern NC. I understand the importance of agriculture to our region. I grew up helping my father, a business education teacher and farmer, before becoming an educator. I appreciate, value, and understand the hard work and persistence required to be successful as a farmer and I am excited about the opportunities to grow the Smart Agriculture cluster of the in eastern NC.”

Dr. David Lewis most recently served as superintendent of Wayne County Schools before retiring in March 2023. Dr. Lewis has 32 years of public education experience in Wayne and Chowan counties as a teacher, school administrator, and district leader. “I believe the work to be done in the Aviation & Aerospace Cluster will be critical to the advancement of commercial, private, and military-connected aviation efforts in Eastern North Carolina.  I look forward to helping our public schools, our community colleges, and our business and industry leaders connect as we seek to develop a talented workforce in eastern NC for the future.”

Lisa Jackson served Pamlico County Schools as superintendent for 8 years and retired in September of 2023. Ms. Jackson has served in public education for 34 years. In addition to serving as Pamlico County Superintendent she has served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, director, and community college instructor. “I am excited to join the STEM East team and lead the Blue Economy Cluster. Having lived in eastern NC my entire life, I am very familiar with the need for the sustainable use of resources in our communities. The economic growth and opportunities within the Blue Economy Cluster for our schools, businesses and communities are endless and I am excited to be a part of the team to assist with that growth in eastern NC!”

Dr. Valerie Bridges recently retired as superintendent of Edgecombe County Schools. In addition to serving as s superintendent, Dr. Bridges served previously as a high school teacher, middle school assistant principal, and elementary school principal. She will serve as the lead of the Green Energy industry cluster. “I’m excited to join STEM East and the Green Energy Cluster. We are working toward a cleaner environment and better health for our citizens and community. The potential job development and community engagement will have exponential benefits for eastern North Carolina.” For some time Dr. Bridges motto has been “Whatever It Takes” to help students succeed.

The STEM East Industry in Schools Initiative is a 29-county partnership of schools, community colleges, and industry in eastern NC. There are currently 29 schools districts and 13 community colleges that are members of the initiative. The core goal of the initiative is to build awareness of training and career opportunities among the 13,000+ teachers in eastern NC to help incorporate those opportunities into the classroom. STEM East is an initiative of NC East Alliance, which promotes economic development, workforce development, education, and marketing of eastern North Carolina.

By Dan Barkin, Business NC

The NC East Alliance economic development agency in Greenville has come up with a plan to keep youngsters in eastern North Carolina and working in local industry. They are enlisting teachers.

The stakes are high for the future of the region from Virginia south to Jacksonville. The General Assembly and private funders, notably the BelleJAR Foundation, are providing serious money. If it works, it will be tempting for other rural areas losing population to replicate it.

The idea is to train hundreds and maybe eventually thousands of teachers in two- and three-day workshops about career opportunities in the region. So, for example, it trains teachers about jobs in the health sciences by walking them through the ECU Health complex in Greenville. It takes teachers through the Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center East in Havelock. Then it helps the teachers design what they have seen into their lessons.

 

“For us, traditional economic development in rural eastern North Carolina was no longer effective,” says Todd Edwards, a Farmville general contractor who chairs the NC East group. “We were experiencing population loss in about two-thirds of our counties ­— or maybe a little more than two-thirds of our counties. Just that talent bleed.”

NC East, through its STEM East program, was helping schools with science and math, but that didn’t stop population losses. “We were training the workforce for other places. They were getting trained up and seeking opportunities elsewhere,” says Edwards.

And that was because many young people in the region had no idea what career options were available within a 15- or 30-minute drive. Their parents didn’t know. Crucially, many of their teachers didn’t.

“We have major pharmaceutical manufacturers here,” says Edwards. “We have marine systems—we have, I think, 60-something boat manufacturers in the region. We’re the epicenter in North Carolina down here of smart ag. And I could keep going. We’ve got all sorts of advanced manufacturing, but as these students and the general populace drive by these buildings daily, weekly, monthly, they have no idea what’s going on inside.”

So NC East created the new initiative, called Industry Cluster Education, with $15 million from the legislature to help cover the next three years.

THE NUMBERS
There are good jobs in eastern North Carolina if you know about them. Manufacturing pays well and, by my count, there are more than 1,000 manufacturing firms in the 29 counties with 60,000 jobs.

But it will be hard to sustain them in many counties — or attract new jobs — if folks keep leaving. The 29 counties have about
1.4 million residents. The region lost around 28,500 residents between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, which doesn’t sound bad, except that growth in a handful of coastal counties like Onslow and Currituck masked losses inland. Some 22 of the 29 counties lost population,
12 of them at double-digit rates.

This shows up in public school enrollment. At an NC East conference in January, senior regional economist Laura Ullrich of the Richmond Fed showed a slide of enrollment trends between 2000 and 2019.

Six school districts showed gains, like Onslow and Pitt, home to ECU. The rest had losses, five by more than 40%.

Folks have been leaving and taking their kids. This gives a lot of urgency to NC East’s project, to give parents hope for their children.

HOW IT WORKS
Last summer there were three pilot workshops. The health sciences one was a good example. It  started at Pitt Community College with 22 teachers from throughout the region, and it was built around a scenario. “You just got bit by a shark. Let’s talk about what it takes to stabilize you,” says Bruce Middleton, executive director of the STEM East program. It was an immersion into the variety of jobs that support ECU Health’s treatment of a shark victim. Like who maintains the medivac helicopter. Or who purchases medical supplies.

“We had teachers there, listening with both their ears,” says Middleton. “One ear may be going, ‘Oh my gosh, I had no idea that there were so many individual, separate career pathways.’”

“We need all the doctors and nurses,” says Middleton. “But there
are also HVAC technicians, there are plumbers, there are electricians, there are computer technicians.”

The second day, the teachers went around Pitt to hear what’s involved in getting ready for the jobs they had seen, some with short certificate programs and some with associate degrees. That training is available at the 16 community colleges in the region, close to everyone.

“Then we came to the classroom, and we finished with that conversation about how do you then sit down with your standards? What are you actually having to teach at your grade level? How do you then take everything you’ve heard [and] have students have the same picture of what you’ve seen?”

When the teachers go back to school, they have access to folks in the industry clusters who have agreed to make themselves available to teachers, who can come to the schools and have the students come to them. “We use the term ‘human library,’” says Middleton.

A BIG JOB
This summer there will be as many as nine workshops, expanding to other industry clusters in the region, including maybe biopharma — a hot area — with as many as 30 teachers each. This is a heavy lift, happening right now. They have to get teachers signed up from around the region, and that means having superintendents get the word out. The community colleges, key partners in this, are handling a lot of logistics and lining up industry partners for the workshops. A lot of stuff has to get done in the next three months.

There are about 12,000 public school teachers in the region. Next summer’s workshops may include 300 of them. NC East is staffing up to bring in folks to coordinate each industry cluster, and it will be able to handle increasing numbers of workshops over the next few years. What is hoped is that teachers who go through this program will share what they have learned with colleagues in their schools.

Plans also call for a different approach to career and job fairs, which have typically been highly localized.

“When we talk to industry,” says NC East CEO Vann Rogerson, a veteran economic developer who grew up on a Martin County farm, “they are siloed within the county that they’re domiciled. The school system, the colleges, the employers have job fairs and interact with each other in that county.

“But when you really talk to the companies, they’re interested in other school systems, and other communities in their labor shed surrounding their domicile county. Companies say, ‘I want to be visible past here.’”

A VETERAN EDUCATOR
Middleton has been an educator for 40 years, in the classroom and administration, and wishes he could have done what he is training now. “I was a high school biology teacher. And when I think about my own teaching, I go wow, if I really thought hard about taking biology class and using, as the context for teaching, using something like this relevant to kids.  Using health science or using agriculture, and at the same time connecting that to our regional healthcare and our agriculture systems.

“Not only would I have had much better luck with my kids understanding the importance of what I was teaching, because they could see it in action, but it would also be connected to a career in the region. Where they would go, ‘I’m learning this and that’s where I want to go to work someday.’”

NC East Alliance will host the Vision 2024 conference on Friday, January 19 at the Main Campus ECU Student Center. Vision 2024 will kickoff the future plans of the STEM East Industry In Schools Initiative. There will be a STEM East Industry In Schools panel discussion, a legislative panel discussion, a STEM Schools of Distinction panel discussion, and the say will be capped off with a Eastern NC Economic Update from Laura Ullrich of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Register here.

Greenville, North Carolina – July 24, 2023 – On Friday, July 21, at the NC East Alliance’s Board meeting, Greg Payne (BelleJAR Foundation Board Member) presented NC East with the first annual check for a 4-year, $1.6 million grant award to support the region’s STEM East initiative.

On May 22, 2023, the BelleJAR Foundation awarded NC East Alliance a grant in the amount of $1,600,000. The grant funds will be paid over four years, $400,000 each year. These grant monies will match other state, foundation, and private funds to engage and lead regional and national stakeholders to invent scalable solutions that transform eastern NC’s educator workforce. STEM East will develop an integrated training and coherent approach to transforming regional rural stem education by focusing on the eastern North Carolina K-12 educators.

In the upcoming 2023-2024 fiscal year, NC East Alliance will launch its “Industry In Schools Clusters Strategy” with our education partners. NC East will be the only regional economic development group focusing on our +13,000 teachers as a workforce. NC East will create the region’s Industry In Schools Clusters through public/private partnerships with industry that will support our new teacher/faculty training system. The intent is that students across our region will engage in real-world STEM learning opportunities that directly align with career opportunities in eastern North Carolina. One of the primary goals is to build teacher awareness of the many job opportunities in the region along with the necessary skills/credentials needed for these jobs. Teachers then will build awareness among the 180,000 students in the region.

Vann Rogerson, President and CEO of NC East Alliance, commented students must be made aware of the many jobs in the nearby surrounding counties and build “paths of success” from their home county. “We must stop exporting the region’s greatest natural resource – our children. We believe the region’s teachers are the key to success. Our teachers are our influencers. Our teachers are our economic developers. We must stop the decline of our local homegrown workforce to support our region’s industries.”

The Industry in Schools program will operate at the intersection of economic development, workforce development, education, and industry across our 29-county region. NC East Alliance will lead and coordinate alliance member development and relations. Twenty-nine school systems and 10 community colleges have already paid NC East to help guide this new working alliance.

Patrick Miller, Assistant Director of STEM East, commented that there is a need for regional leadership. “A large turnover of Superintendents/Education Leaders exists in the region. An umbrella organization like NC East Alliance is needed to sustain change and to keep our partners on mission.”

In presenting the check, Greg Payne said, “BelleJAR has worked to improve education outcomes and young people’s futures in rural eastern North Carolina for 25 years. We’ve been supporting STEM East for the last 10 years. This is our biggest investment in eastern North Carolina, which shows the confidence we have in NC East’s ambitious efforts. We are excited to be part of a coalition to transform the educator workforce and STEM learning throughout the 29-county region.”

NC East Chairman Mark Hamblin said, “the NC East Board looks forward to working with the BelleJAR Foundation and our many education partners to stop the decline of and to help grow our local home-grown workforce.  Our NC East Board has made a 10-year commitment in which our economic development organization will work closely with our education partners to make eastern NC a great place to work and raise a family.”

Greenville, North Carolina – January 13, 2023 – Today, twenty-nine (29) school systems and fourteen (14) community colleges joined NC East Alliance’s STEM East leadership team at the East Carolina Heart Institute for the first planning meeting for a new alliance that will operate at the intersection of education, professional learning, workforce development, and economic development. The morning session, moderated by Dr. Tom Williams (President/CEO of Strategic Education Alliances) was focused on creating an “Industry in School” Alliance that brings together school districts, community colleges, and industry in a collaboration designed to bolster the region’s workforce.  A steering committee comprised of superintendents, community college presidents, and NC East Alliance’s STEM East leadership participated in the morning session.  At the conclusion of the morning session, there was a sense of excitement among the attendees about this new initiative.

At midday, a VISION 2023 luncheon was held to celebrate the launch of this new collaboration. Mark Hamblin, Chairman of the NC East Alliance, opened the luncheon by introducing the NC East Board and NC East Alliance’s STEM East Leadership team.

Dr. Michael Waldrum, ECU Health’s CEO, Dean of the Brody School of Medicine, and NC East Board member, then welcomed the group of 125 people to the East Carolina Heart Institute. Dr. Waldrum said, “I am a strong advocate for bold regional solutions for large regional issues and am excited to participate in VISION 2023”. Vann Rogerson, CEO of the NC East Alliance, thanked the many educational, economic development, industry, and legislative allies in the room. He also thanked the Vision 2023 sponsors: ECU Health, Kilpatrick Townsend/KTS Strategies, NC Biotechnology Center, and Nutrien.

NC East Alliance’s STEM East Network steering committee members will be inventing regional solutions to help educators become transformative stakeholders in the regional economy. A new Industry in School Alliance will focus on our +13,000 teachers and community college faculty as a regional workforce. The steering committee will collaboratively invent and implement a new educator training system to create a better understanding of nearby jobs and industry clusters. Our Industry in Schools program targets the “influencers” – our K-16 educators. As a result, our students will have an increased awareness of the jobs in the region, how much post-secondary education is required for those jobs, and what the salary range is for those jobs.   The desired outcome is that more of the region’s high school graduates choose to remain in the region for work and/or education.  The ultimate goal is to reverse the decline of our locally homegrown workforce.

Vision 2023 featured two panel discussions.  The first, moderated by Dr. Tom Williams, included Cecilia Holden, President/CEO of myFutureNC; Catherine Truitt, State Superintendent of Public Instruction; and Jordan Whichard, Chief Deputy Secretary of Commerce. During the education panel discussion, President Holden discussed the importance of collaboration between superintendents, community college presidents, other local leaders, and STEM East to ensure the State meets myFutureNC’s 2 million by 2030 educational attainment goal. Superintendent Truitt, who deemed 2022 the Year of the Workforce, emphasized working together to envision a better connection between K-12 education and careers.