NCWorks Career Center-Rowan Staff Member Talks with Elementary School Students About Their Futures and NCWorks
Dec 19, 2019
As a Talent Development Consultant at the NCWorks Career Center-Rowan, Charleena Zepeda works every day to help members of the community achieve their career goals. She says that her work is a part of who she is and helping people is her passion.
Recently, she received a message from her son’s Rowan-Salisbury School System elementary school teacher asking her what she did for work. Her son’s teacher informed her that she asked her students to come up with goals for the year after high school, and her son responded by saying “I want to be like my mom, she helps people read and find a job.”
Although she doesn’t teach people how to read, Charleena chuckled to at her son’s authentic response. Charleena explained that she works at the NCWorks Career Center in Salisbury as a Talent Development Consultant. She went on to explain that she helps people who are unemployed or underemployed increase their skills and find gainful employment through Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) services.
Charleena also explained that she works jointly with individuals to develop Individual Employment Plans to outline their training and career goals and objectives. She went on to detail how WIOA services are federally funded services which are used to help individuals who may need assistance to increase their skills and marketability by way of attending training services to obtain a certificate, diploma, or associate degree to secure gainful employment.
Impressed, her son’s teacher asked if Charleena would come to the school to speak to the students about what she does at NCWorks. So, on October 25, 2019, she spoke to three 3rd grade classes about what she does as a Talent Development Consultant at the NCWorks Career Center-Rowan in Salisbury.
“I was amazed and impressed by the children who demonstrated strong knowledge about understanding and identifying goals,” said Charleena. The children shared their goals and asked Charleena many questions including, what steps it takes to accomplish their goals.
“I was delighted to be given the opportunity to interact with the students. I believe that our children are the future, and from the interactions that I had with the students that day, I could tell that they all have bright futures ahead of them,” added Charleena.
To read more NCWorks Career Centers success stories for the Centralina WDB region, visit www.centralinaworkforce.com.
