Somerset county opening doors for students

SALISBURY, Md – Somerset County students had a chance to learn about what career opportunities are within their reach today at the American Job Center.

Thanks to a partnership between Somerset county and the Lower Shore Workforce Alliance (LSWA), students got a chance to explore what career paths might be right for them. Somerset County Career Coach and Youth Apprenticeship Coordinator Leigh Pressley noted the broad range of benefits of the partnership, saying, “This will allow our students to be able to do youth apprenticeships, internships, gain work experience. Also soft skills, life skills, and just on the job training that is needed.”

Leslie Porter-Cabell, Workforce director with LSWA, says students don’t have to go far to find a promising opportunity: “We have industries on the lower shore that, if you don’t go to college, there is that career pathway to a livable wage, where they can graduate high school, go right into work, and then actually be able to stay on the lower shore.”

Pressley echoed Porter-Cabell, emphasizing the importance of reinvesting in the local community: “We can have our students work for the county that they live in, which mean those resources are going back into the community and our students are able to be home-grown—there’s no one better to work in our community than someone that lives here.”

As one of the poorest counties in Maryland, Somerset school officials said events like this are key to help level the playing field for their students.