After many years of planning and preparing, the VenangoREADY program has reached a milestone. On Monday, May 23, Kat Thompson and Chamber board member and VenangoREADY Supporter, David Snedden from Hagan Business Machines, attended the Cranberry High School Senior Award Ceremony. They presented VenangoREADY designation to 27 students who took the initiative to complete the program.

Achieving this designation includes a certificate of completion and a tri-colored graduation honor cord, in addition to a seal of approval image which they can include on their resumes.

This is the very first class in our region to complete the program designed to better match local employers with a quality workforce who have achieved desired levels of proficiency in the skills employers want and businesses need to be successful. We look forward to growing the program and expect several more school districts to graduate VenangoREADY designees next year.

Pictured below from left to right: Kat Thompson presents Cadince Delaney with her certificate, Jacob Schultz holds his certificate, and Chamber Board Member David Snedden shakes the hand of Chris McElhinney.

(Pictured left) Susan Williams, talks to Mackenzie Arcuri from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) based in Harrisburg. The PSBA traveled to our area to film a story about VenangoREADY, as part of a statewide series highlighting career readiness programs. They interviewed Cranberry VenangoREADY students and faculty, Chamber staff, and Chamber board member Ryan Bell from Webco. We look forward to sharing their completed project!

To learn more about the Chamber’s involvement in education, join our email list at: www.venangoready.org or view the education page at: www.venangochamber.org/education

This article was published in the Venango Chamber’s June 2022 VenangoWorks! Newsletter.