For many students, summer is a time of growth and exploration. The team at Workforce Development Board Mid-Ohio Valley (WDB-MOV) in West Virginia knows this, which is why for the second year in a row, they’re supercharging their summer CTE Explore Camp with VR simulations from Transfr. Cyndi Auth, Strategic Development Manager at WDB-MOV has been a major driving force behind the program.
For many students, summer is a time of growth and exploration. The team at Workforce Development Board Mid-Ohio Valley (WDB-MOV) in West Virginia knows this, which is why for the second year in a row, they’re supercharging their summer CTE Explore Camp with VR simulations from Transfr. Cyndi Auth, Strategic Development Manager at WDB-MOV has been a major driving force behind the program.
“The camp is evidence that students are hungry for interactive instruction,” says Cyndi. “By taking a multi-faceted approach to creating career awareness, students can see first hand the importance of math and science and how they directly relate to the world of work, a future that the students will soon find themselves in the midst of.”
We’ll recap 2022’s successes and dig into this year’s robust program. There are lots of exciting takeaways that showcase the WDB-MOV’s hard work and ingenuity as well as the value that VR can bring to in-person events like these when combined with comprehensive career path education.
Building on 2022’s successes
The week-long CTE Explore Camp was initially launched in 2022 with a focus on expanding student knowledge of trade jobs for incoming 9th and 10th graders who might consider going into Career and Technical Education programs. Later that year a collaboration with Transfr allowed the program to expand by augmenting the curriculum to include VR simulations. This expanded the program empowered students to explore a wide array of new careers.
VR was only part of the agenda with a wide array of daily activities for students. One highlight was daily spotlight speakers who shared their career journeys with attendees, giving them real-world stories to connect with students’ VR experiences and other research. This combination of content was designed to help students make more informed decisions about their classroom-to-career pathways.
Students were directed to various Transfr VR career exploration simulations based on their expressed interests, but were also given the freedom to engage with any other sims during their Transfr headset sessions.
“By exposing students to a wide selection of careers, they are better equipped to make an informed choice of career path rather than settling for one,” said Bill Monterosso, Executive Director of WDB-MOV.
The 2022 camp was a rousing success! While WDB-MOV originally aimed to serve only 25 high school students, over 50 students ended up participating in the event, which was expanded to accommodate the increased interest. This year, there were three week-long sessions in four different locations, to build on last year’s schedule.
Pure turnout numbers don’t tell the whole story: The effect of Transfr’s VR career exploration simulations combined with the hands-on content and stories from trade worker guest speakers had a powerful effect. When students were asked “Has your career plan changed after this week?” 21% of respondents said “Yes!” in 2022. Among the 2023 attendees, 44% of those who completed the post-camp survey report that the experience affected their career goal.
Expanding CTE camp to meet student demand
The students have spoken and the 2023 CTE Explore Camp was expanded to help even more young people decide if the skilled trades are right for them and which career path they might want to start down.
Instead of focusing solely on VR career exploration, this year students also used Transfr’s VR skills training modules to learn vital workplace safety skills: Lock out/tag out, use of PPE, bloodborne pathogen safety, fire extinguisher, and more. This content will once again be complemented with live presentations from seasoned experts in the skilled trades, including pipefitters, electricians, ironworkers, and others!
The combination of human counseling and direction, told stories from the field, and VR career exploration and skills training has helped students from a variety of backgrounds get onto career pathways they may never have otherwise considered.
These types of activities allow the WDB-MOV crew to have a powerful impact on the communities they serve. The world of work is constantly evolving; students need state-of-the-art experiences and guidance from caring advisors and mentors to help them thread the needle and find their personal pathways to a future where they can do work they care about and contribute to their communities.
“I like showing people how to use the VR to try jobs they wouldn’t have an opportunity to do otherwise,” says Russell Spencer, VR Tech. “This allows them to experience jobs without needing access to the costly real equipment or having to travel to where the equipment is.”
Want to learn more about VR Career Exploration simulations?
