Educational Resources Support Our Local Economic Stability, Growth and Success

Culpeper Star Exponent

Business Monday

September 24, 2012

Jim Charapich

“I continue to be amazed at Culpeper” were the comments from the Lead Culpeper 2012 group last week. We have covered a lot of ground in introducing the leadership class to various aspects of Culpeper.

Last week our session was on Education. We asked Dr. Johnson to open the session with a discussion about public education. She immediately earned the admiration and respect of the emerging leaders. There is a lot more to educating Culpeper students than SOLs. There is a balance between experiential 21^st Century learning, and the ability to perform on standardized tests. We are fortunate to have the leadership in our schools to develop the best strategies for our students.

Former Chairman of the Culpeper County School Board, George Dasher followed Dr. Johnson with a discussion about his experience as a School Board member. He spoke from the perspective of a career business professional. His project management and engineering background were evident in his experiential assessment. Our leadership class felt a transformation from preconceived notions to a revelation of the extraordinary talent of our educators in today’s complex system. Ask Mr. Dasher about Blueberry Ice Cream some time. The story will bring a certain “ah ha” moment worthy of repeating often.

The afternoon was built to address higher education offered by Germanna. With presentations by Germanna’s President Dr. Sam, VP Jeanne Wesley, and Kim Rodenberg, the class was again left with the sense that we are very fortunate in Culpeper. To have a community College in Culpeper is a big part of creating new jobs. Companies looking for a place to locate consider a Community College as essential for continuous training of their workforce.  The real take away from the Community College discussion, is that it enables a culture of life-long learning in the community. A progressively educated workforce is one of the most important components to economic prosperity.

Finally, to pull it all together, the group heard from two of our most inspiring champions of education: Chuck Gyory, President, and Mike Dale, Vice President, of Career Partners, Inc. Career Partners works in a unique way to bring educational focus on wealth creation to Culpeper High School students. The program is called E Squared, or Entrepreneurial Energy. As they put it so well, Entrepreneurial Energy is what Drives America. Regardless of the area of interest that a student may excel in… music, science, technology, engineering, math, etc…learning how to take an idea or a talent and turn it into wealth supports life-long success. In fact, it is through wealth creation that individuals are able to support the community they serve in exponential ways. Needless to say – our leadership class was very impressed with the E Squared Program, volunteering to help as the program rolls out in January of 2013.

At the end of the day I polled the class, “So, What are our opportunities in Education?” Hands went up with a variety of thoughts. Success…. An engaged group of thought leaders are emerging, built on the foundation laid by such great leaders as Dr. Johnson, George Dasher, Dr. Sam, Jean Wesley, Kim Rodenberg, Chuck Gyory, Mike Dale, and so many others in our community.