Workforce Happenings

Worlds of Work (WOW) Career & Industry Expo was back in person for a 2-day event October 13-14, 2022, on the Martin campus of Shelton State Community College.

The WOW Career event saw a total of 4,030 students and their guardians with 3,675 of those students in attendance and engaged during the WOW event for ninth graders Oct. 13th & 14th.

355 students and their guardians were in attendance for WOW Varsity held for our 10^th – 12^th grade students on October 13th from 2pm-6pm with a focus on getting parents involvement.

 102 exhibitors participated over the span of 2 days.

The WOW VIP Breakfast took place Friday October 14^th from 7:30am-9am at Shelton State Community College Gymnasium with business and industry leaders and education partners in attendance. There were also two communities visiting from Great Falls, Montana and Tallahassee, Florida during the 2-days.

The fourth Educator Workforce Academy (EWA) Graduation was held during the WOW VIP Breakfast. Last year, educators visited numerous places including Brose, Phifer Inc, McAbee Construction, BF Goodrich, career technical centers, workforce centers, and heard from key leaders in education on workforce development. We appreciate each of these companies who supported the Academy this year.  Each participant had to complete action plan and participate in 100% of the sessions to graduate.  

We are happy to announce that 37 education leaders in our region graduated on October 14th from the program as educator workforce fellows. During the WOW VIP Breakfast, we welcomed our new 2022-2023 Educator Workforce Academy class with 81 top level educators participating, representing seven counties.

Watch the video to look back on what all West AlabamaWorks! has been up to since the last WOW event in 2019: https://vimeo.com/westalworks/wow2022. 

We appreciate our media outlets and all they do to help us spread the word

WOW in the news:

• 95.3 the Bear with DC were remote onsite at Shelton State for the kickoff of WOW Oct. 13^th beginning at 6am-11am with Live guests: Donny Jones and Dr. Chris Cox.
• 105.1 the Block with Dre were remote onsite at Shelton State for the second day of WOW Oct. 14^th from 9am-noon with live guests: Dr. Chris Cox, students, and Industry partners.
• WVUA 23: https://www.wvua23.com/worlds-of-work-offers-students-a-look-at-future-career-paths/
• CBS 42: https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/wow-career-expo-underway-at-shelton-state-community-college/
• Spot on Alabama: https://spotonalabama.com/al-metropolitan/914932/worlds-of-work-offers-students-a-look.html
• WBRC: https://www.wbrc.com/2022/10/13/worlds-work-returns-tuscaloosa/
• Tuscaloosa Thread: https://tuscaloosathread.com/2022-worlds-of-work-event-kicks-off-thursday/
• Tuscaloosa News: https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/news/2022/10/14/thousands-west-alabama-students-visit-worlds-of-work-career-expo/69543938007/
• WVUA 23: https://www.wvua23.com/worlds-of-work-returning-to-shelton-state-thursday-friday/
• Tuscaloosa News: https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/picture-gallery/news/2022/10/13/photos-west-alabama-worlds-work/10488426002/
• The Patch: https://patch.com/alabama/tuscaloosa/worlds-work-career-expo-returns-person-format-week
• Alabama News Center: https://alabamanewscenter.com/2022/10/07/west-alabama-worlds-of-work-is-in-person-again/