Inside Report for April 17, 2008

• By CHANTE DIONNE WARREN
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Apr 17, 2008 - Page: 7B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Completing college applications, paying for the ACT exam and filling out lengthy student financial aid forms might be daunting for students attempting those tasks for the first time.

Career and college coaches Julie Scott and Kacy Edwards recognized that students’ fears and financial limitations sometimes keep them from realizing their college dreams or obtaining the necessary skills to jump right into the labor market.

“We found that many of these kids just needed someone to hold their hand and help them through the process,” Scott said.

They formed Career Compass to address that issue and the program has grown from operating in two schools in the East Baton Rouge Parish school system in 2006-07 to six area schools, thanks to increased school funding and community support, Scott said.

Their work is critical in Baton Rouge and in the state, where the lack of enough qualified workers remains a hindrance to economic growth. Business leaders, including Stephen Moret, secretary of the state Department of Economic Development, have said the state must do a better job of educating and training the workers of today and the future.

If the state continues to produce a poorly trained pool of workers, critical projects will go to other states, Moret has said.

Gov. Bobby Jindal also has emphasized the importance of a skilled labor force. Before the current legislative session got under way, Jindal said about 40 percent of the state’s population over age 16 is unemployed or underemployed.

Among the work-force development proposals before the Legislature are bills to overhaul the state Labor Department, to coordinate worker training programs, to increase the number of business leaders who advise the governor on the needs of employers, to better align training with available jobs, and to create an Occupational Forecasting Conference to meet at least twice a year to determine the work force needs of current, new and emerging industries.

Those are the big-picture items. On a smaller scale is the program Scott and Edwards operate at Broadmoor, Lee, McKinley and Woodlawn high schools in East Baton Rouge Parish, East Ascension High and East Iberville High.

Scott said this school year, 87 percent of senior class members at those schools have applied to and/or been accepted to a post-secondary school.

The women have coached more than 235 students individually and about 300 students in group settings during the 2006-07 school year. This year, they are helping more than 1,000 high school seniors, Edwards said.

“We feel like we’ve proven that with the one-on-one assistance we provide, students will take the necessary steps to go to college or technical school or beauty school or wherever,” Scott said.

McKinley High guidance counselor Gerri Vaughns said the pair have helped reinforce the school’s message of getting ready for college.