This month, sixteen CCPS students from Culpeper County High School and Eastern View High School completed an 8-week program with the Groundwork Project. The Groundwork Project is a collaborative project between CCPS, Rappahannock Goodwill Industries and Verdun Adventure Bound. The program provides hands-on experiences for high school students to learn and practice essential workplace skills such as communication, conflict resolution, and personal initiative. The Groundwork Project teaches these skills in an outdoor challenge course setting at Verdun and allows students to engage mentally and physically in their personal career pathways. This is the fourth cohort of students to complete the program this school year.
The Groundwork Project has three main goals, to Encourage leaders (autonomy), Build teams (relatedness), and Establish careers (competence). To achieve these goals throughout the program, students engage in high adventure and risk-taking activities that encourage the person’s inner leader to emerge. They learn what it means to rely on others and be relied upon. Skills in team building, communication, conflict resolution, and collaboration are cultivated and students learn the value of relationships.
Throughout the program, students complete a personal career portfolio. The portfolio includes a career assessment, creating a cover letter and resume, and collecting reference letters from trusted adults. At the end of the program, students interview for jobs with local employers.
Marty Bywaters-Baldwin, Chief Mission Officer with Rappahannock Goodwill Industries, shared the following in an email to the program stakeholders, “I want to thank each of you for the collaboration and energy that made the Spring cohort of the Groundwork Project for our English Language Learners such a success. A special thank you to Jeff Say with UVA Health and Tereza Valencia from Germanna Community College for interviewing the students on Week 8 and sharing the career and educational pathways available to students. The experience was all the richer through the generosity of Dos Allen with State Climb and Luis and Maria Galarza with the 4 C’s Restaurant. Looking forward to working together with you on more Groundwork Project groups in the future.”
CCPS students have been participating in the Groundwork Project since 2017. Due to ESSER III grant funding, the program expanded in 2021 to double the number of students. CCPS students who have completed the Groundwork Project have demonstrated higher classroom engagement and academic achievement.
