THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702080166
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY DOUG BEIZER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 145 lines
BEYOND READING, writing and arithmetic, Lamar Brynt, 17, is learning something else in school. How to frame a house, dig a footing and install appliances.
Teaching students the skills that businesses need from their employees in the ``real'' world is a constant struggle for schools.
To help meet that need, local business people got together five years ago and pooled their expertise and resources - in coordination with the School Board and the administration - and created the Virginia Beach Education Foundation to work with students in technical and career education.
Today that group has a new name and a new focus.
It's now called the Virginia Beach Public Schools Education Foundation and its aim is to reach all kinds of students in all grades, not just high school.
``We initially started out in an effort to deal specifically with technical and career education,'' said Steven Harwood, chairman of the foundation's board and an attorney with McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe, a member business. ``We were trying to raise funds and create programs that would improve the education that the students had so they would be prepared for the workplace.''
The foundation's new goal is to spread its resources to the entire school system; it includes preparing students to directly enter the work force, technical schools or colleges.
Harwood said businesses became interested in the foundation because they sensed that cutting-edge preparation was lacking in young people. The foundation members, including bankers, contractors, landscapers, banks, grocery stores and car dealers, not only want to prepare students for the work force, but they also want to make students aware of what career opportunities exist.
The foundation's past projects have been successful.
Students from the Technical and Career Education Center and the Career Development Center worked with teachers and local business to build a home, from the ground up, on Newtown Road.
Students worked on every aspect of the construction, from designing the house and setting the construction schedule to obtaining the building permits and more. The Newtown Road house was completed in the summer of 1995 after about a year's construction time. Proceeds from the sale of that house, which sold for about $80,000, went into the foundation's coffers to finance more projects.
Construction on another house on Thalia Road began just last month.
``We found from the project that students' attendance increased dramatically and their morale increased dramatically,'' said Harwood. ``They were very, very excited about the projects.''
Students from the Technical and Career Education and the Career Development centers work in half-day shifts at the construction site. A teacher from the Career Development Center said a number of students who worked on the first house were hired right off the site by contractors looking for skilled labor. Students working on the new project may also end up using the experience to launch their careers.
Lamar Brynt is one. ``It's fun out here, and once you get to know how to do different things it becomes very easy,'' said the high school junior while working on the Thalia Road house recently.
``I might do this after graduation; it's a pretty cool thing,'' he said. ``You can make a lot of money doing something like this,'' said Brynt, who attends the Career Development Center and who is learning every phase of construction from laying the foundation to installing the appliances.
``The home construction project not only gives the kids the opportunity to learn hands-on, but also it is a moneymaker for the foundation,'' said Denise Lawson, secretary of the foundation. ``We hope to be able to make a profit that we can reinvest in the foundation to support additional projects.''
Foundation members themselves are instrumental in boosting profits. For example, BB&T Bank provided no-interest loans to finance the projects. Other members helped with other phases of the project. In addition, two annual golf tournaments have each raised $8,000 for the foundation.
School Superintendent Timothy Jenney said the goals of the home-building projects are representative of nationwide needs.
``The economy has changed, and all communities have to adapt and adjust to that market change,'' he said. ``In the trades, we know there is a great shortage of labor and talent, and so the foundation's home-building project is a natural. This particular project is helpful to the whole community. It's helpful to the students because they learn, it's helpful to the agencies within the community because they work and support the school division and ultimately it's going to be helpful to the individual that moves into the house. It's a win-win-win scenario.''
Now the foundation is focusing on how it can expand. One proposal is to offer minigrants for teachers who want to do a special project with their students.
``Classroom teachers often want to do projects and don't have the money - like $100 or $200 for materials,'' said Lawson. ``This way, they can apply for these minigrants and see an automatic impact that the foundation is making.''
Harwood said the foundation's focus will turn more toward fund-raising now that its scope has broadened. It will continue to oversee projects, but it will encourage teachers to come up with the ideas for those projects.
``If a project is successful, then hopefully, it can become a school-wide program,'' said Harwood. ``We want creativity and innovation at the teaching level.''
The foundation already has plans to have students repair, upgrade and modify used computers that are donated to the schools.
The group also plans to provide student and teacher scholarships.
Jenney predicted the foundation also could provide financing and guidance to the research and development side of the school system.
``The school system typically doesn't have money dedicated to research and development,'' he said. ``To the extent that we have this kind of support from the foundation, it will help our teachers and schools pilot these research and development type programs without taking away resources from other programs.''
Lawson said that as the foundation grows, its expansion into elementary and middle schools also will increase.
Harwood said the foundation's board, which numbers 16, also will likely expand in the future to include more business representatives. He also hopes the types of businesses represented on the board will expand to increase the foundation's perspective.
The relationship with School Board and school administration also will continue to develop, Jenney said.
``We've said for some time that education works best when it works in partnership with parents and the community,'' said Jenney, calling the foundation a demonstration of community support. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos including color cover by CHARLIE MEADS
Omega Williams, a student at the Career Development Center, checks
the depth of a foundation trench for the house he's helping to build
on Thalia Road. Students work on every aspect, from designing the
house to obtaining the building permits
Chris Daniello, left, and Mike Pratscher, Career Development Center
students, check footing depth stakes.
Top left photo: Students dig trenches where the foundation will be
poured for the Thalia Road house.
ON THE COVER
Steven Harwood, left, chairman of the Virginia Beach Education
Foundation, and Timothy Jenney, superintendent of Virginia Beach
public schools, looks over plans for a house being built by students
from the Technical and Career Education Center and the Career
Development Center. The house is being built on Thalia Road with the
help of local businesses.
Graphic
AT A GLANCE
What: The Virginia Beach Education Foundation's annual
fund-raising golf tournament
When: June 19
Where: Hell's Point Golf Club
Information: Contact the foundation at 563-1262.