Education is the foundation for employment, and Vicksburg-Warren School District superintendent Chad Shealy is working to give local students a bright future.

Shealy spoke at Wednesday’s Lions Club meeting about the multiple current initiatives the district is implementing into the schools. Almost each and every initiative is created to make sure students are more prepared for life after high school whether it is in college or in a trade.

“Joe Loviza made a statement one time that stuck with me— ‘All education leads to employment,’” Shealy said.

He said Vicksburg students are excelling at the next level with four former students being at the top of their respective engineering programs at Mississippi State University and the university’s only Rhodes Scholar is from Vicksburg, he said.

“We did a really good job for some of our kids, but as we as started moving towards all of our kids, the things we wanted to do was prepare them for workforce,” Shealy said.

Of the 1.5 million people in Mississippi, he said, 69 percent do not have associate’s degrees or higher, and only 110,000 have master’s degrees or above.

Of people with bachelor’s degrees, he said, 70 percent do not work in the same field as the degree they earned. Students changing majors to figure out what they want to do can become expensive as the students takes more classes to graduate, and Shealy has worked to prepare students to make a plan and figure out what they want from their life.

“We began to look at ways to address that. One where we could have a higher graduation rate, reduce our dropout rate and seek employment for our students so they can have active lives,” Shealy said. “Because that affects all of us in Vicksburg, not just the school district.”

One of the biggest additions to the system in the coming school year is the career academies for all 10th grade students. Students will choose from three academies in which to study: Communications, Arts and Business; Health and Human Services; or Architecture, Construction, Mecatronics and Engineering.

Career and Technical Education course offerings have doubled for those looking to get into a trade rather than heading to higher education. Plus, alignment programs have been setup where students can graduate high school as an emergency medical technician or a licensed practical nurse.

“What we found in those first statistics is there are a lot of jobs available that don’t require associates and four year degrees,” Shealy said.

Eligible juniors and seniors will be given multiple opportunities to earn college credit and even the chance to complete an associate’s degree for free while in high school through partnerships with Hinds Community College, Alcorn State University and Mississippi State University.

MSU will offer Intro to Chemical Engineering at the Hinds Vicksburg Campus to high school students because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center located in town is the largest employer of engineers in the state.

“We have the Army Corps of Engineer’s presence like no other city in the entire United States. We tried our best to capitalize on that resource,” Shealy said.

The district’s new Early College program will let students earn an associate’s degree while in high school. Vicksburg was selected with two other districts in Mississippi by MDE to be an Early College location.

“They earn 100 percent of an associate’s degree in high school,” Shealy said. “It is located on Hinds Community College’s campus.”

The Early College program will include career and technical education, two year industry certification associate’s degree or two year’s worth of courses toward a four year degree. The coursework will be done in the place of elective activities.

He said VWSD is one of three districts in the state recognized by the Mississippi Department of Education as a designated District of Innovation for the work they have done to give students options.

“Education now is bigger than books, numbers and pieces of paper,” Shealy said.

He wants the students to be confident in their decision, know their strengths and have the information to make good choices.

“There’s lots of opportunity and that’s really the direction we have taken,” Shealy said. “We want it all focused on the ability for students to be successful when they leave.”