2011 Model Partnerships
Learn how to establish a partnership with Virginia Beach City Public Schools.
Access Partnership and Technical and Career Education Center
This outstanding partnership has worked together to establish the Oral Health Improvement Coalition (OHIC) of South Hampton Roads, a dental access program for uninsured and indigent patients in the community. Juniors and seniors from the Technical and Career Education Center's Dental Assisting Program have been able to help to provide care for more than 300 patients from ages 4 to 70. Working with area dentists, students have gained workplace readiness skills and hands-on experience to help them to pass certification exams to enter the dental profession. These marketable skills have led to job opportunities for many students upon graduation from the program as well. Students have also been provided a unique opportunity to take a leadership role at Access Partnership/OHIC meetings where they present dental education to the area dental and medical community. In addition, the state-of-the-art clinic at the school provides an excellent site for dental volunteer work at any time.
Alliance Chiropractic and Rehabilitation and Bayside High
Through this partnership, juniors and seniors at Bayside High have an opportunity to participate in clinical rotations and job shadowing experiences in a doctor's office, at the hospital, and even in the operating room. Dr. Gonzalez, a 1995 graduate of Bayside, affords students the opportunity to meet and work with many different clinicians and health care providers throughout Hampton Roads. Dr. Gonzalez prides himself on patient care and empathetic treatment so he makes sure that students understand how important it is to be a good listener to better understand and assess patients' problems. Thanks to this model partnership, students gain insight into the various areas of health care so they can make more informed college and career decisions. Bayside High is most fortunate to have such an amazing partner in education.
Buffalo Beach and Ocean Lakes High
Buffalo Beach's owner, Steve Guiffre, has a marketing background and an interest in developing partnerships with schools to provide meaningful learning activities. That was the birth of this model partnership with Ocean Lakes High School. Dozens of students in the special needs program at Ocean Lakes have gained valuable workplace readiness skills by working with job coaches at the restaurant while business and marketing students developed a kids menu to be used by patrons. The advanced marketing students also planned to collaborate with Steve on a marketing plan geared toward 21st Century social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. "Helping students to develop the necessary skills to be creative and to think ‘outside the box’ is what will make them successful in the future. I’m fortunate to have been able to provide such a practical venue." Guiffre shares. In addition to serving as a member of the division’s strategic plan steering committee and the Partnership Advisory Link (PAL), Guiffre is also a ‘go to’ person for help with marketing Community Relations activities, participating in events, and contributing resources whenever asked. As a direct result of this partnership, students and staff have seen the relevance and application of the content from a multitude of their classes, have gained valuable work place experience, and the division as a whole has benefitted from his generosity and expertise.
Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and Cox High
This model partnership was developed to support service-based learning. What began with fifty-eight Honors English 10 students initiating a service program, Falcons Feeding Friends, has grown to involve well over 500 students from all grade levels. Cox High students have collected and delivered over 10,000 pounds of food to the Foodbank to date. Students recently collaborated to create a cookbook to heighten community awareness of world hunger. As future world leaders, these student-driven projects have afforded students the opportunity to gain tremendous insight into a real world problem and challenged them to take responsibility for helping to solve it.
Horizons Hampton Roads and Alanton Elementary
Horizon Hampton Roads provides academic, cultural, and recreational enrichment experiences in a highly structured and nurturing environment to students. Students at Alanton Elementary are given the opportunity to participate in many activities each summer such as swimming, conducting science experiments, and going on field trips to a variety of destinations. Horizon Hampton Roads is offering a nine-year commitment to ensure that every first grader entering the program will have nine educationally enriching summers supported by the organization. The benefits of this exceptional program are immeasurable for families. Growth is seen in students' academic motivation, as well as improved social skills and self-esteem. This partnership is a prime example of a gift that keeps on giving.
Mary F. Buckley Foundation and Tallwood High
This partnership has helped the school's Noble Teens to appreciate the impact that community service has on the greater population in the community. The Mary F. Buckley Foundation is an organization that provides assistance to individuals with traumatic brain injuries. Students at Tallwood High have learned a lot about the dangers of drinking and driving and the need to make good choices from clients at the foundation. As the partnership expanded and relationships between the groups flourished, the Noble Teens discovered that many clients had never been to a formal dance or prom due to the severity of their disabilities. With a few months of preparation and through the collaborative efforts of faculty, staff, and Culinary Arts students, the first Rendezvous on Bourbon Street (a Noble Teens Prom) was held. The Noble Teens hosted the third annual Mary F. Buckley/Tallwood High Prom this May and were recently awarded the News Channel 3's People Taking Action Award.
Navy Expeditionary Combat Command and Bayside Middle
Since its inception, this partnership has been a perfect fit. Supporting the AVID program at the school, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command encourages students to maintain enrollment in rigorous classes while serving as guest speakers, mentors, and assistants in the classroom. This military partner also worked with Bayside's Green Team to enhance environmental awareness at the school by helping to plan, provide an extensive labor force, supply farm equipment and tools, as well as contribute a monetary grant to build a butterfly and rain garden. Awarded the Lynnhaven River NOW Pearl School Award in 2010 for its commitment to environmental education, this strong military partnership is having a positive impact in the community.
The O'Brien et al. Agency and the Virginia Beach Education Foundation
O'Brien adopted the Virginia Beach Education Foundation in 2009 to complete a pro bono marketing makeover. The company's owner and several of its employees were graduates of Virginia Beach City Public Schools. Through this year-long partnership, the Education Foundation received more than $50,000 of free marketing services in the form of creative concepts for display board panels, redesign of the foundation's web pages, production of e-blast messaging and more than 12 videos of grant projects in action. O'Brien's local and national reputation, along with their award-winning production skills, added greatly to the foundation's marketing and heightened community awareness.
TCI Voice and Data Networks and Thoroughgood Elementary
Fifth grade students at Thoroughgood Elementary are being provided with valuable leadership experiences outside of school which are creating an awareness of job force opportunities. What began as an idea for the school's Leadership Club, has grown to include career education and community outreach activities that align with Compass to 2015 objectives. Businessmen from the organization serving as mentors and role models join students for a monthly luncheon in which students don business attire and practice interacting in a confident and professional manner with peers and adults. This partnership has made a huge impact on students who have attended field trips to Harbor Park to learn about the inner workings of a sports franchise and toured the USS George W. Bush aircraft carrier to learn more about the military. A joint community service project which provided holiday gifts for needy children in a Norfolk orphanage, helped to teach students to cooperate when fundraising, calculate best purchase prices when shopping, and then to prioritize funds to maximize their buying power. This outstanding partnership has made numerous business connections that have resulted in additional partnerships within the school.
VBTV and the Advanced Technology Center
The Advanced Technology Center's partnership with VBTV was initiated with the goal of producing a recruiting video that would be used to highlight program offerings at the school. Teams of students were selected from each course of study to work together to collaborate with faculty, administration, and multimedia communications specialists from VBTV. Students were responsible for developing ideas, coordinating and organizing scenes, scheduling, and time management. Not only were students engaged in a real world task of creating a captivating product to communicate an idea in a new and innovative way, they also gained valuable work place readiness skills as they applied 21st Century skills while working with VBTV staff. Congratulations on a wonderful recruiting video!
The Virginia Beach Chorale and Salem High
The partnership between the Virginia Beach Chorale and Salem High School Visual and Performing Arts Academy was designed to provide artistic, social, and organizational benefits to foster the positive attribute of music as a life-long activity. Academy students have had the opportunity to perform with the Virginia Beach Chorale in three major concerts at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts. Chorale members have served as ushers and provided backstage services at the school's concerts while several academy students have taken advantage of master class opportunities, job-shadowing and internships. The exchange of talents and experiences has allowed each to gain new insight and wisdom for cross-generational advancement of choral music.
Virginia Beach Fire Station #11, C-Shift and Cooke Elementary
Virginia Beach Fire Station #11 was looking for a way to get more involved in the community and Cooke Elementary couldn't be happier. What started off as a weekly mentoring lunch has grown into so much more. Firefighters can be seen reading to classes of students, talking to kindergarteners as they learn more about community helpers, facilitating field trips at the fire station, driving the fire engine to the school carnival and assisting young explorers who can't wait to hop into the driver's seat and put on the head phones. Attendance has greatly improved since students will tell you they always want to be in school, because they never know when their "guys" will come in. Praising students who are performing well and encouraging those that are struggling creates personal connections that are having a greater influence than anyone could have imagined.