Beyond-the-classroom learning opportunities help students and job seekers prepare for the working world in a number of ways.
They can open learners’ eyes to possibilities they may have never imagined, give them a better feel for what a specific path would be like or immerse them in the daily workings of a company or role.
High-quality programs across the state are helping students to make work-based learning the new norm for all North Carolinians.
ApprenticeshipNC
Activity: Apprenticeship
Category: Experience
Geographic County: Statewide
Target Audience: High School | College students
Career Cluster/Skills: Manufacturing | Architecture & Construction | Health Science | STEM | Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
Description
ApprenticeshipNC helps workers learn specialized skills needed in today’s economy. ApprenticeshipNC is an employer-driven model that combines on-the-job learning with related classroom instruction. ApprenticeshipNC allows businesses to create flexible and effective training and hiring solutions that work for their industry. Apprentices learn practical skills while earning a nationally recognized industry credential.
Biogen Community Labs
Activity: Worksite tours | Guest speakers | Hands-on experience
Category: Awareness
Geographic County: Durham
Target Audience: Grades 9–12
Career Cluster/Skills: STEM
Description
Biogen’s Community Lab is a state-of-the-art laboratory classroom where local middle and high school students engage in hands-on biotechnology experiments and interact with scientists and other biotech professionals. It offers free daylong, interactive science activities, rigorous summer programs, and teacher professional development.
Boundless - Fidelity
Activity: Job shadowing | Career discovery
Category: Awareness
Geographic County: Wake
Target Audience: High School | Undergraduate students
Career Cluster/Skills: Entrepreneurship
Description
Boundless is a discovery program for high school and undergraduate women getting ready to take the world by storm. Through events, education, and digital and social engagement, you will identify your strengths, discover your passions, set your path, and find your purpose.
Google CS First
Activity: Online interactive activities
Category: Awareness
Geographic County: Worldwide
Target Audience: Grades 4–8
Career Cluster/Skills: Information Technology
Description
CS First is a free web-based program that exposes students to computer science through video tutorials and modules that students participate in as after-school, in-school and summer programs. Designed for grades 4–8, the clubs teach students about computer science and coding in a hands-on, learning-by-doing way.
NAF Be Future Ready Internships
Activity: Internship
Category: Experience
Geographic County: Apex | Burlington | Chapel Hill | Charlotte | Clemmons | Concord | Conway | Durham | Fayetteville | Harrisburg | Hope Mills | Huntersville | Kernersville | Mathews | Mint Hill | Mt. Pleasant | Raleigh | Sanford | Trinity | Weldon | Wilmington | Winston-Salem
Target Audience: High School
Career Cluster/Skills: STEM | Finance | Hospitality & Tourism | Health Science
Description
NAF Future Ready Labs is an innovative solution to closing the internship gap. Providing a strategic structure to successfully scale paid internship experiences, NAF Future Ready Labs make it easy for companies to play an active and flexible role in building the talent pipeline. NAF Future Ready Labs help support the goal of reaching 100% internships and creating access to opportunities for ALL future leaders.
NC Career Launch Tech Certifications
Activity: Certifications and Credentials
Category: Experience
Geographic County: Statewide
Target Audience: High School
Description
NCBCE has partnered with the NC Department of Public Instruction and industry leaders to curate a list of online curriculum for credentials and certifications developed by tech companies. Through this partnership, students in NC K-12 high schools can receive scholarships to take the certification tests.
NC Career Launch Youth Apprenticeships
Activity: Youth Apprenticeship
Category: Learning and Earning
Geographic County: Statewide
Target Audience: High School Students
Description
Career Launch NC programs are designed to increase statewide postsecondary credential attainment and connect students to high-demand jobs.
The programs focus on youth between ages 16 and 24 and put students on the path to a career with growth and a living wage. Programs have paid, supervised work blended with aligned classroom instruction and result in an industry recognized credential or college credit.
Ready, Set, App!
Activity: Career Competition
Category: Exploration
Geographic County: Statewide
Target Audience: High School Students
Career Cluster/Skills: Marketing | Information Technology
Description
Ready, Set, App! is an Android mobile app development competition for North Carolina high school students. Student groups are asked to develop a functional and original mobile app using a mobile app development platform (e.g., MIT App Inventor) to solve a problem in their community or school. The competition places an emphasis on both the technical skills needed to develop an app and the soft skills needed to succeed in the workplace.
RTI International
Activity: International non-profit internship
Category: Experience
Geographic County: RTP
Target Audience: Kindergarten–College students
Career Cluster/Skills: STEM
Description
Mentoring undergraduate and graduate students across the social and laboratory sciences, engineering, and international development. Our emphasis on building relationships with universities extends to our well-rounded internships program. By mentoring the brightest undergraduate and graduate minds in a variety of disciplines at our North Carolina headquarters and other offices in the United States and around the world, we help to expand our research and capabilities, while also creating a vibrant network of intern alumni who go on to assume roles at the institute and elsewhere.
State of North Carolina Internship Program
Activity: Internship
Category: Experience
Geographic County: Statewide
Target Audience: Special population focus
Career Cluster/Skills: Government & Public Administration
Description
The State of North Carolina Internship Program offers students real-world experience in a wide range of state government workplaces. To be eligible, you must be a permanent North Carolina resident attending a college, university, law school, technical institute, or community college.
Students@Work
Activity: Externship
Category: Exploration
Geographic County: Statewide
Target Audience: Middle School
Career Cluster/Skills: Government & Public Administration
Description
Students@Work is a 10-day blitz aimed at exposing middle schools students from across the state to real-world, business environments in their communities. We view job exposure as a critical first step in integrating work-based learning into the lives of NC students, adding relevancy to their classrooms, and helping students successfully navigate career pathways.
SummerSTEM
Activity: Internship
Category: Experience
Geographic County: Statewide
Target Audience: Special population focus
Career Cluster/Skills: Government & Public Administration
Description
SummerSTEM is a collaboration between WakeEd Partnership, the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), and numerous STEM businesses and organizations in North Carolina. This eight-day professional development program exists to enrich the educator’s understanding of the knowledge and skills that are necessary to succeed in STEM careers.
Surry-Yadkin Works
Activity: Pre-apprenticeship
Category: Experience
Geographic County: Statewide
Target Audience: High School Students
Description
The Surry-Yadkin Works playbook is full of tips and best practices for building a work-based learning program in your county, based on the promising model established by Surry-Yadkin Works in northwestern North Carolina. The playbook outlines the conditions that primed Surry-Yadkin Works for success and the specific steps leaders took to launch and grow the program. This cross-sector partnership aligns four different school districts, the local community college, and local public and private sector employers via a streamlined approach to connecting students with pre-apprenticeship opportunities and wraparound support on a clear pathway to success after high school.
T-STEP Program
Activity: Mentoring | Internship
Category: Exploration
Geographic County: Wake | Pitt | Mecklenburg
Target Audience: Special population focus
Career Cluster/Skills: Government & Public Administration
Description
The TEACCH School Transition to Employment and Postsecondary Education Program (T-STEP) was developed to support transition to employment and/or postsecondary education settings for adolescents and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder who have received a standard course of study high school diploma.
Teachers@Work
Activity: Teacher externship
Category: Exploration
Geographic County: Statewide
Target Audience: Educators
Career Cluster/Skills: Education & Training
Description
The North Carolina Business Committee for Education’s Teachers@Work® initiative connects educators to businesses for an experiential learning opportunity about employable workforce skills that can be transferred to the classroom environment.
