Brian A. Black, third from right, human resources manager at Spirit AeroSystem’s Kinston facility, presents a check to help fund a career development partnership with Kinston High School to, from left, Bruce Hill, vice chair of the Lenoir County Board of Education; LCPS Superintendent Brent Williams; Kinston High principal Kellan Bryant; Amy Jones, the district’s director of high school education and CTE; and Keith King, chair of the Lenoir County Board of Education. The formal presentation was made at the school board’s Dec. 2 meeting.

A recent donation of $14,600 from Spirit AeroSystems to Kinston High School puts the bow on a package of initiatives that unites one of Kinston’s premiere manufacturers and its neighboring high school in a multi-faceted career development program.

Financial and professional support of Kinston High by Spirit will mean grants for teachers, creation of a career awareness center at the school, upgrading of the mini STEM lab in its media center and expansion of Spirit’s established employment program for KHS students.

“We believe that investments in youth produce some of the greatest returns on our investments in the community,” Brian A. Black, human resources manager at Kinston’s Spirit facility, said. “We are intent on doing our part to help young people and to ensure they are equipped with the necessary skills to be successful in the workplace and in life.”

On behalf of the 620 employees of the Kinston facility and David Miller, North Carolina vice president and general manager, Black made the formal check presentation at the Dec. 2 meeting of the Lenoir County Board of Education.

“Not only do we want to present money, but we also pledge our commitment,” Black said. “We’d like to have our employees in the schools tutoring, mentoring, those kinds of things. We look to make this a very beneficial partnership for many years to come.”

So does Kinston High principal Kellan Bryant. “We are honored to have a partnership with Spirit. They have been wonderful to work with over the last two years,” she said. “The possibilities these new initiatives bring to our students and the community will provide opportunities that extend well beyond the classroom and high school.”  

As designed by Spirit executives, Bryant and Amy Jones, LCPS’s director of high school education and CTE, the program breaks down into five specific components:

• Teacher grants for five teachers to implement STEM or employability skills-focused programs in their classrooms. The grants are valued at $500 each. 

• A career awareness grant to create a “Career Café” area in the high school as a space for students to meet in small groups to gain career information from industry representatives, community leaders, post-second representatives and career development coordinators.

• A school-level grant to support the STEM lab area in KHS’s media center by purchasing furniture, a 3D printer, a dedicated computer and printer. The lab’s focus will be on developing creative and technological skills needed for employment in a manufacturing and problem-solving environment. STEM refers to learning related to science, technology, engineering or math.

• Paid summer internships. Last summer, Spirit’s Kinston facility employed eight of the high school’s 2019 graduates, all 18 years old; one of them has gone to work for Spirit and another is expected to join Spirit in January after finishing coursework at Lenoir Community College. This summer, Spirit plans to expand the internship program to 20 students and open the program to 17-year-olds.

• A pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship program expected to begin next fall for students in the CTE, or Career and Technical Education, program.

Additionally, Spirit and LCPS plan to work together to develop curriculum aligned with manufacturing principles and to promote student and parent career awareness. “We know it’s one thing to touch our students with career awareness, but we also need to bring our parents on board so they understand the opportunities that are out there,” Jones said.

Due to increased demand for the airplane fuselages and other aerostructures produced at the 10-year-old Kinston facility, employment opportunities will abound for future LCPS graduates with the right set of skills, according to Black.

“We see Kinston High School as our beginning partnership. We are interested in expanding throughout your district as well,” he said. “We see this as a way of building a future pipeline for our industry. We along with other manufacturers in the region are facing the reality of building a highly skill pipeline. If we’re going to grow, we have to partner and build that capability.”