News Photo by Julie Goldberg In this photo from March, Alpena High School graduate Blake McCallum and senior Zac Cramer work on a car in the automotive program in the Career and Technical Education Program at Alpena High.

ALPENA — On Monday, school districts within Alpena, Alcona, and Montmorency counties were one of nine partnerships in the state awarded a Marshall Plan for Talent grant from the state.

Alpena Public Schools, Alcona Community Schools, Hillman Community Schools, Atlanta Community Schools, and the Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District were collectively awarded over $1.9 million to help build students to be career- and college-ready when graduating high school.

The Marshall Plan for Talent grants will provide school districts funding for new and expanded curricula, certification programs based on competency, professional equipment, a competency-based education model, and career navigators. The state awarded over $15 million on Monday.

Alpena Superintendent John VanWagoner said Monday it’s exciting for the districts to receive the grants. He said a lot of work was put in with the school districts and local partners.

“We have an outstanding program here, and we have some resources to take it a step further with what we want to do,” VanWagoner said.

VanWagoner said Alpena students will be able to continue to have world-class opportunities because they will be using world-class equipment. He said the Alpena High School Career and Technical Education Program will receive new equipment that will allow kids to train on the same equipment that local manufacturing or automotive facilities use.

“Our kids will be able to have a leg up, to walk in and say, ‘I’ve worked that machine before, I understand how to program it, I understand how that works,’ and really be able to earn a living wage and be able to help our economy throughout our part of Northeast Michigan,” VanWagoner said.

Alcona Superintendent Dan O’Connor said Monday his initial reaction after hearing the news was gratefulness for VanWagoner and Alpena High CTE Director Joyce McCoy for their work on the grant request. He said having dozens of community partners work together on the grant request shows what the Northeast Michigan region can do when everyone collaborates.

O’Connor said that, with the grant, Alcona can bring in a career navigator to help students and expose them to opportunities that are available in the workplace and show career options.

Hillman and Atlanta Superintendent Carl Seiter said the Marshall Plan is about building partnerships between the schools, post-secondary institutions, and employers. He said he’s excited for the employers in the area, because students will stay in the area because they have the specific skills that employers here want.

Seiter said students in both Hillman and Atlanta can work on developing skills and that’s what the consortium is designed to do.

AMA ESD Superintendent Scott Reynolds said he’s very excited and appreciative of the people who recognized the importance of area schools’ request. He said it’s a proud moment for the districts and he said a lot of credit goes to VanWagoner and McCoy for their work on the grant request.

Seiter said the three counties working together speaks volumes to what can happen when everyone works together. He said it was not one individual district working, it was multiple districts collaborating to get to a common goal.

“It’s going to be exciting to work and be focused on helping kids,” Seiter said.

O’Connor said one reason the grant was accepted was because the three countries worked together to figure out the best opportunities for students. Reynolds said every district that was involved increased the amount the districts could receive.

Students in Alcona, Hillman, and Atlanta have been traveling to Alpena High this school year to participate in the CTE classes. Seiter said that’s a huge opportunity for the students to develop skills for when they go into the workforce.

“They’re already benefiting from it,” Seiter said.

O’Connor said the grant will help with transportation costs for the students to travel to Alpena to take the CTE classes and also travel for dual enrollment.

VanWagoner said a big part of the proposal was giving an opportunity to every student in the three counties. He said being able to support Alcona, Hillman, and Atlanta with funding for transportation was a big part of the request.

“We appreciate all of their work to make this happen,” VanWagoner said.

Local partners in the grant request with the school districts were Alpena Community College, the Michigan Works! Northeast Consortium, the Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce, the City of Alpena, the Alpena Talent Development Corp., Employment Services Inc., Ossineke Services, and MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at 989-358-5688 or jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jkgoldberg12.