Santa Fe Trail BOCES Wheels 2 Work Event Puts Students on Pathway to Prosperity

Description: SECO News Publisher Adrian Hart interviews Santa Fe Trail BOCES Special Projects Coordinator Jennifer Nesselhuf during the Wheels 2 Work event in Rocky Ford. (Photo Credit: Kyle Hart)


Published: 10/06/2021
Byline: Hart

Santa Fe Trail BOCES Wheels to Work

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Santa Fe Trail BOCES Wheels 2 Work Event Puts Students on Pathway to Prosperity

As part of the Pathways to Prosperity Project, Santa Fe Trail BOCES hosted it's first Wheels 2 Work event on Wednesday morning. The event was held simultaneously in three locations and included students from all six BOCES member school districts. SECO News gave presentations at the Rocky Ford location at Babcock Park in Rocky Ford. There were over a dozen businesses represented and 115 7th and 8th grade students listened to presentations, asked questions, and completed the questions on their Wheels 2 Work passports as they went from display to display.

Santa Fe Trail BOCES wheels 2 work SECO News seconews.org

Rocky Ford junior high school students listen to a presentation about the development and day to day operations of seconews.org at the Wheels 2 Work event at Babcock Park Wednesday morning. (SECO News flat-screen display provided by H&R Block)

Santa Fe Trail BOCES Wheels to Work SECO news seconews.org

Transcript of the SECO News interview with Santa Fe Trail BOCES Special Projects Coordinator Jennifer Nesselhuf Here:

SECO News: This is Adrian Hart with your Southeast Colorado News on seconews.org we're at Babcock Park in Rocky Ford for a new event, and it's an exciting event. I've been talking to Junior High age kids, signing their questionnaire as they go from business to business and we're with Special Project Coordinator with Santa Fe Trail BOCES Jennifer Nesselhuf. Good morning Jennifer, how are we doing?

Nesselhuf: Good morning Adrian, we're doing great, we're standing here with some Rocky Ford students, 7th and 8th grade students. This is a career exposure event for the member districts of Santa Fe Trail BOCES. So, today at Babcock Park we have Rocky Ford students and Swink students, and a wonderful representation of work in our community.

So we have public works, we have several vehicles from the City of Rocky Ford. We have Four Rivers, Russler Implement, Christine's, KDA Airflow and Appliance. We've got Habitat Construction, they've got some large equipment. Nesselhuf trucking with a semi. Southeast Health Group is here with their small engine display.

We have Good Day Disc Golf, the kids are loving that, and also Sammie George from GOCO Colorado and we've got SECO News here, we've got Perkins Dodge, we've got Small Business Development Center, The State Bank is here and Ark Valley Lumber is here. So, we've got some equipment moving around and the kids are learning about wheels that work in their community.

SECO News: And this is all part of the Pathways to Prosperity, right?

Nesselhuf: Correct. Right. So, one of my big projects is Pathway to Prosperity and the idea is that we expose local students to careers in this community so they consider working here when they get to be adults. 

SECO News: Very cool. What a great cause and what a great way to make it a better place to live.

Nesselhuf: That's right, so we've got a lot of students here, they've just been excited, they're filling out "passports" and their passports if they're completed enter them into a drawing for some gift certificates, and those are made possible with a small grant from the Advanced Manufacturing Group in La Junta and the Otero County Economic Development.

So, this is only possible because of Workforce Center helping us, City of Rocky Ford Marty Lee has helped us, Duane Gurule helped us from the Small Town Project, and Marlena Griesse from the 4-H Extension Agency and Julie Worley also has been working with us through Santa Fe Trail BOCES. We hope that this becomes an annual event. 

SECO News: Yup. Very cool. I think you've got great turnout. 

Nesselhuf: We have.

SECO News: And a fantastic business community represented here and a lot of those names are my supporters too.

Nesselhuf: Right.

SECO News: So, I want to say thank you to all of them and of course we'll be adding a directory for the folks who participated here onto seconews.org courtesy of Santa Fe Trail BOCES, so I want to thank you for that.

Nesselhuf: Thank you.

SECO News: What a great way to give back to these guys out here blowing the horn.

Nesselhuf: That's right.

SECO News: And showing up for the kids.

Nesselhuf: Right. So, some of our high school volunteers from Rocky Ford have collected business cards and we'll get those to you and we will collect that. Thank you for participating you know and the announcement of SECO News and we will honor those who participated today.

SECO News: Thank you so much for doing it Jennifer.

Nesselhuf: Thank you.



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