New Lex High School's innovative approach to workforce development is breaking barriers

The stats from New Lexington High School read like a college preparation pamphlet: Students going into the workforce after graduation over the last three years, 247; number of students credentialed in phlebotomy, 11; number of students placed in internships, nine.

But it’s not college — it’s a 534-person high school. And that got the attention of Lt. Governor Jon Husted, who visited New Lexington High School earlier this month to see the high school’s workforce development sites, including the Emergent Welding Program and the Workforce Development Center.

“We’re very progressive,” said Superintendent Casey Coffey of the model New Lex has set up for career opportunities and expanding the classroom well beyond the building. “We’ve taken this template of education and workforce development and combined it in a way that puts our kids in positions to be successful.

“I really believe (Husted) wanted to see how that was working.”

The visit follows the March announcement that New Lexington Local Schools received $2.5 million through the Career Technical Education Equipment Grant to expand and renovate their Workforce Development Center to offer an Advanced Manufacturing and a Health Care program.

“We’ve looked at the data in regards to what the local jobs are and what people are looking at and we determined the welding credentials are in high demand not only in Perry County, but surrounding counties,” said Coffey of the welding program. “That’s how we developed our curriculum. We’re producing about 20 to 21 credentialed welders out of our welding lab every year.”

In the last three school years, New Lex has credentialed 50 D 1.1 welders with 30 more currently testing with results expected this summer.

The high school’s healthcare program placed 27 students in healthcare work-based learning this year with 11 students credentialed in phlebotomy.

“We’ve got a really robust partnership with Genesis HealthCare,” said Coffey. “That’s a neat partnership (that offers multiple healthcare pathways). We had a cohort go through phlebotomy credentialing this year. We’re also offering a Multi-Skilled Technician program and we’re getting ready to start an STNA program the following school year. Eventually that will matriculate into an LPN program. Our kids, through Genesis, can do clinicals at 16 years old. We have kids drawing blood right now.”]

They also have 49 students engaged in building trades learning construction, safety, masonry, carpentry, plumbing, and electrical concepts.

Additionally, 26 students are engaged in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) cohort, which started this school year in conjunction with the Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee. The students utilize virtual reality headsets to work through electrical modules before students train with live wire. Students who complete the program are eligible to be interviewed by the IBEW and if accepted enter into a two-year apprenticeship. If they finish all four years, they can become journeymen.

“It’s Appalachia return on investment,” said Coffey. “When you peel that back, in Perry County, in small town USA, a person can earn college credit that leads to a pathway to go to college, and asynchronously they can also get a credential.

“Our valedictorian, he’s going to college for engineering and he’s got a credential to fly a drone. We have the largest FFA chapter in the state of Ohio. We farm about 120 acres and he flies the drone over for the test plots when they put in the seeds.”

Did we forget to mention New Lex also has its own farm that they lease from the county commissioners? Students learn farming, too, both how to raise animals like hogs as well as how to run a farm.

“It really creates a culture. It’s different,” said Coffey. “It used to be you’d ask a high school student ‘what do you want to do’ and they’d have no answer because they felt they had no options. Now you ask these kids and they say ‘I don’t know’ because they have so many options.

“It’s not utopia, don’t get me wrong. It’s not every kid. But it’s a pretty neat template.”

It’s so popular, in fact, that New Lex has flipped the script on what are typical College Signing Days or Athlete Signing Days.

“We do a workforce development signing day at the end of the year,” said Coffey. “We have their employers come down and we have where they actually sign for the job.”

He said New Lex is at the forefront of breaking down employment barriers for high school grads as well as breaking apart the reputation that Appalachia is made up of folks who might not be too smart.

“We’re really trying to work hard to make sure folks know it’s not that way,” said Coffey.

“Southeastern Ohio is a unique culture, and we have to take care of it. And this is the way it starts. That captive audience at our schools. These are good schools, these are great teachers and students, and we’re breaking down barriers.”

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: New Lexington High School working with students to spur job growth