Skylar Anderson, an East Ridge High School senior, doesn’t just like the new work-based learning program where she earns $15 an hour as an apprentice for a local media conversion company.
“I love it,” she said, as she and her brother, Devon, a junior at East Ridge, led a tour of the learning center at the Legacybox headquarters just off Holtzclaw Avenue. “We build relationships with each other, and it’s setting us up for things outside of school. They give us room to be adults but still give us those boundaries.”
The apprenticeship program at Legacybox launched in January, the latest in a constellation of business and education partnerships across Hamilton County intended to prepare local students for the workplace.
“This is an example of integrating the business community deeply into education,” said Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Bryan Johnson during an open house for the program on Friday. “It’s so amazing to see these students articulate what’s transpiring for them.”
Legacybox employs about 350 people, and this 20-student apprenticeship program may become a great way to get new talent into the growing business – but that isn’t actually its primary goal, said co-founder Nick Macco.