By Danyelle Catling
CCC Journalism Program
Camden County College has entered its Career Prep Academy in a grant contest run by USA Today.
The contest, part of the news organization’s A Community Thrives program, invited schools and organizations to submit ideas about ways they could help others. USA Today placed the entries on its website and is inviting readers to vote for the ones they like best. The first-place winner will receive a $100,000 grant. The second- and third-place winners will receive a $50,000 grant each.
The contest has submissions in categories including wellness, arts and culture, and education. Camden County College entered the Career Prep Academy in the education category.
The description from Camden County College on its submission states, “A community thrives when its weakest members are most supported.”
The Career Prep Academy is for students who have gotten into trouble in the past and as such have been pushed back from their peers in schooling, according to the submission. When the troubled students re-enter neighborhood high schools, they are further behind and lose their motivation to finish schooling.
Camden County College partnered with the U.S. Army to create the Career Prep Academy to help guide the troubled students to earn their high school diplomas and get college credits. The Career Prep Academy and the U.S. Army will help those students establish a career path and guide them to the opportunities they can experience at Camden County College or other options.
The submission states Camden County College would use the grant to kick start the academy.
Voting for the grant is happening until May 12 at http://act.usatoday.com/submit-an-idea/#/gallery/60422682.
This is the Career Prep Academy’s entry on USA Today’s “A Community Thrives” website.
