McCracken County School System Seeks Industry Partners

Marc Mavigliano wants to connect high school students to jobs in the inland waterways industry.

Mavigliano, the McCracken County (Ky.) Public Schools community schools director, was the guest speaker for the Paducah Propeller Club’s monthly luncheon September 11 at Walker Hall in Paducah.

McCracken County High School in Paducah has about 2,000 students and is the seventh largest school in Kentucky, Mavigliano said. Its senior class has roughly 430 students, and subsequent classes have trended larger.

While the school system has partnered with Paducah Public Schools to offer students experience in four trades at the Paducah Innovation Hub Area Technology Center—including welding, construction and automotive classes—class size is extremely limited. For example, only 18 students from each school system may take welding classes. More than 100 students at McCracken County High School indicated interest in those classes, Mavigliano said.

What many people outside of the school system do not know is that in addition to academics, McCracken County High School offers classes in 41 career pathways designed to help students prepare for future careers. Those classes include marketing, accounting, computer science and culinary programs.

“I know there are a lot of things going on in your companies other than the need for deckhands and welders,” Mavigliano said.

Those types of jobs are not as often highlighted by the industry, he said.

While Paducah, Ky., is often mentioned as a hub of the inland waterways industry, students who don’t have a family connection to the river industry often do not realize the opportunities they have locally for good-paying jobs in the maritime field, he said.

“Our kids don’t realize how fortunate they are to have that,” Mavigliano said.

He said the school system is working with the We Work The Waterways program, which offers high school students the opportunity to learn more about the industry via a field trip with hands-on learning opportunities. The high school also plans to offer a career fair in the spring for the first time ever.

What Mavigliano wanted from the meeting with the propeller club was to ask, “How can we help you?”

That could include work-based learning opportunities and internships to providing a chance for river companies to come speak to students, perhaps through the high school’s new Freshman Academy program or in a study skills program for juniors and seniors already taking programs at the Paducah Technology Hub.

The school system is looking to build on its successes, said Mavigliano, who told a story about a former student whom he referred to as Kenny.

Kenny was living with his girlfriend and her grandmother after other adults in his life chose not to take responsibility for him. He had few opportunities to learn important “soft” skills, but he showed some talent for welding in one class, Mavigliano said. With his teacher’s recommendation, a river company offered him an internship if he could get to an interview. The school’s family resources center provided interview clothes and the steel-toed boots he would need, and when Kenny’s car broke down, automotive students repaired a donated car, which the school system sold Kenny for $300. He went to work initially making $18.75 per hour. Now, Mavigliano said, he is a married father and working full time for a river company.

“We’re all about creating a path to a better life,” said Mavigliano, who invited those in attendance to help be a part of that path while also meeting their own needs for a future workforce.