Page 8 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - First Quarter 2023

Initiative Builds the Next Generation of Forestry Professionals
By J. Hunter Blohm, Deputy General Counsel and Director of Federal Programs, Be Pro Be Proud, and John Hatcher, Executive Director, NCFA
In mid-October 2022, the North Carolina Home Builders joined the NCFA and other trade associations to celebrate the launch of Be Pro Be Proud NC, an initiative to generate student, parent, and educator interest in technical professions.
Be Pro Be Proud NC uses two custom-built exhibition trailers equipped with virtual reality technology to give middle and high school students hands-on experience with skilled professions within the construction, forestry, manufacturing, transportation, and utility industries. The goal is to present these industries as high-tech, high-wage career paths of first choice.
Efforts to launch the initiative began in 2016, in direct response to the realization across business sectors that the workforce shortage is real, significant, and intensifying. At a time when employee responsibilities, requisite skill sets, and income opportunities are on the rise, student interest remains low. This lack of interest is due in large part to lack of information about realistic short- and long-term opportunities within these sectors.
Be Pro Be Proud is designed to change how individuals of all ages think about existing job opportunities within the target sectors and engage them in becoming part of the solution. This is a model that can, and is, being replicated across the United States.
Hands-on simulator experiences — delivered to the students where they live and learn — place them directly into real-world environments and provide
the opportunity for them to imagine themselves in the roles of various professionals. While engaged in simulated experiences, students also learn how to access valuable training resources and where to pursue high-value career options.
Be Pro Be Proud has been credited with increased high school graduation rates, increased post-secondary enrollments, increased applicant interest, and in- classroom participation and motivation.
Be Pro Be Proud is actively engaged in Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and preparing to launch efforts in New Mexico and Tennessee
in 2023.
The opportunities in technical fields are significant, lucrative, and essential. Those who recognize and pursue these opportunities will be America’s next generation of fortune creators. ■
6 ncforestry.org / FIRST QUARTER 2023