Lonza Continues Teachers Academy Participation

  • Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Representing this year’s Teachers Academy workforce development program are, from left, Pete Cuison, Tennessee Christian Preparatory School; Teresa Shelton, Lonza; Alice Smith, Taylor Elementary School; Jessica Wooten, Taylor Elementary School; Janice Baker, Lonza; and Sherry Crye, Chamber of Commerce.
Representing this year’s Teachers Academy workforce development program are, from left, Pete Cuison, Tennessee Christian Preparatory School; Teresa Shelton, Lonza; Alice Smith, Taylor Elementary School; Jessica Wooten, Taylor Elementary School; Janice Baker, Lonza; and Sherry Crye, Chamber of Commerce.

Teachers Academy, a workforce development program of the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce, has been pairing local educators with local industries for 17 years. The program allows a teacher from a local school to work on a special project for an industry for a four-week period during the summer.

This summer three teachers participated in the program at Lonza, which has participated in Teachers Academy for 14 years. They continue to participate in the workforce development program because it “allows us to work on projects that are vital to our operations but that we may not have time to get done.”

Janice Baker, human resources manager for Lonza, put it simply: “Teachers Academy gives us an extra pair of hands.”

Jessica Wooten, a fifth-grade teacher at Taylor Elementary School, worked in Lonza’s Human Resources Department for her second summer as part of the Teacher Academy program.  According to Ms. Baker, Ms. Wooten worked on projects to update physical, mental and environmental demands of the job; updated employee position descriptions, and helped with other various HR activities.

Pete Cuison, an IT teacher from Tennessee Christian Preparatory School, returned to Lonza for his fourth summer, working with Judy Tickel in the Tech Service group. Mr. Cuison provided research and recording skills in OneNote and Excel for various projects affecting product development and product knowledge.

Alice Smith, a fourth-grade teacher at Taylor Elementary School, worked with Teresa Shelton in Plant Management.  Ms. Smith provided research in updating or preparing several documents in Excel and conducted several administrative tasks. 

Ms. Baker said, “All the teachers were a great asset for the summer.” 

“We appreciate the stalwart businesses who continue to participate in Teachers Academy,” Gary Farlow, Chamber president and CEO, remarked. “We see this as a means to an end for our schools and our businesses.”

Sherry Crye, Chamber director of workforce development, said, “Businesses are always pleased with the work ethic the teachers bring to the summer projects and also see the benefit of teachers sharing their experiences with students. 

“When teachers return to the classroom with their business/industry experience, students are able to relate their coursework to a real-world situation. The relationships developed between education and businesses are important as well. Businesses like Lonza become ongoing resources for our schools.” 

To date, Teachers Academy has placed 111 teachers from kindergarten through post-secondary classrooms in 19 individual businesses/industries. Teachers participating in the program receive a stipend from their respective business for their four-week project. They are required to provide a summary of their experience and two lesson plans based on their work project.

If Teachers Academy is a program that could benefit your teachers or businesses for the summer of 2016, contact Sherry Crye, director of workforce development, at 472-6587 or scrye@clevelandchamber.com.

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