SOUTHEAST GEORGIA – As students return to classrooms across Southeast Georgia, 20 educators spent the last week prepping lesson plans with the help of summer externship experience, primed to help their students find regional jobs.

In June, the Regional Industry Support Enterprise (RISE) hosted its second annual Educator Externship Program, embedding teachers, counselors and school support staff inside 10 manufacturing and logistics companies across the region.

The participants, who came from schools across Southeast Georgia, gained firsthand knowledge over one week of the manufacturers, logistics companies, and employers shaping the region's economy to connect students with careers close to home. Participants shadowed employees, toured production facilities and learned what employers say today's students need to succeed.

Now, those experiences are making their way into classrooms as students begin a new school year.

"The teachers serve as a bridge. We want to make sure that we have these goodwill ambassadors that are familiar with the career opportunities in our region,” Anna Chafin, President and CEO of RISE, said. "Our goal is to have more students that stay here and pursue careers here after they graduate. If we can inform educators and then they can inform students, I think that makes our multiplier effect a lot stronger. It could be pretty significant going out and sharing with their classes, sharing with their peer teachers, sharing with their administrators.”

The program included 20 educators nominated by school systems and development authorities in Bryan, Bulloch, Candler, Chatham, Effingham, Evans, Liberty and Screven counties. Participants spent the week at companies including Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, Daniel Defense, Briggs & Stratton, Sewon America, JCB, JTEKT, Claxton Poultry, DAS, Brasseler and SNF Holding Company before presenting how they plan to incorporate the experience into their classrooms and career readiness programs.

Georgia Power has supported the program from its beginnings, providing grant funds that help make the program possible and sponsoring two educators from each county with a $1,000 stipend.

The regional initiative was inspired by an educator externship Chafin and regional leaders observed in Newton County in 2024. After launching a pilot program with 16 educators in 2025, RISE expanded the program this summer to 20 participants, with Georgia Power providing the primary funding for educator stipends.

In Bryan County, RISE worked more closely with the Development Authority to fund two extra spots in the externship. The Development Authority of Bryan County (DABC) sponsored these extra two stipends.

In July, Bryan County Schools received the Economic Development Partnership designation, a five-year, district wide certification awarded by the Georgia Department of Education.

“As one of only a handful of counties in Georgia to achieve this milestone to date through a rigorous certification process, the Bryan County School system and local industries and businesses prioritize career alignment with education,” Ryan Purvis, CEO of the DABC, said.

Teachers take a closer look

Richmond Hill High School graphics and print teacher Chanelle Sheets said the experience challenged her expectations. Sheets spent her week at Bryan County-based Daniel Defense, a firearms and accessory manufacturing campus. Sheets said at first, she wasn't sure how much a manufacturing company would translate to her graphics students.

"I thought I was going to have to make a big stretch, but I really didn't have to," Sheets said. “All the departments there actually crossed over easily.”

Sheets was able to shadow Daniel Defense’s human resources and communications team, social media designers who create all of their content – social posts, banners and advertisements – in-house.

She learned from engineers who showed her how digital design and technical drawing intersect with the creative skills her students already use.

"You could see the 'aha' moment," Angela Hendrix, Chief Marketing and Public Affairs Officer of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, said. "She connected the dots of … ‘this is how I can connect these careers to what we're doing in a graphics department classroom.’"

Sheets said she also took away practical lessons to bring back to school, including blueprint reading, precision measurement and a production workflow system she observed during her externship.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway, she said, was hearing employers consistently emphasize communication, professionalism and other employability skills.

"It's probably not a surprise to anybody to learn that some of the biggest issues these companies are coming back to us saying … communication skills are lacking" Sheets said. “I’m making sure we have opportunities in our class and our lab to practice those skills. So, by the time students go out for an interview or are working at these companies, they already have a step ahead on that opportunity.”

Connecting classrooms to local industry

Across the different companies, educators heard a similar message. Technical skills can often be taught on the job but employers place a premium on dependability, teamwork, communication and professionalism.

"They used to be referred to as soft skills," Chafin said. "We're trying to change the language to employability skills because … that's more representative of what they are and we hope better resonates with the employers"

These lessons are exactly what RISE hopes educators will share with students throughout the school year. Some teachers are bringing these lessons to students as young as middle-school-aged.

“I believe career exploration is as much about figuring out what you don't want to do, as it is what you do want to do,” Chafin said. “If our students can start that process earlier in their educational journey, then hopefully by the time they graduate high school, they really have a good idea of what they want to do once they graduate.”

Dr. Jonathan Shearer, the director of Career, Technical and Agricultural Education, Federal and Special Programs for Bryan County Schools, said the means educators will return to their classrooms with stronger industry connections, authentic classroom applications and a deeper understanding of how to prepare students for high-demand careers in the region.

"The RISE Regional Educator Externship Program provided our teachers with invaluable firsthand exposure to the skills, technologies, workplace expectations and career pathways driving our region's economy," Shearer said.

This year, RISE also began looking beyond participation numbers to measure the program's long-term impact. The organization plans to track how educators incorporate their experiences into classrooms and hopes to develop a library of lesson plans that future teachers can use.

The program concluded with educators presenting what they learned to employers, community leaders and fellow participants before receiving their certificates.

“After seeing the excitement from the teachers who had this opportunity and the commitment from our industries, we have no doubt that our students will reap the rewards of this real-world experience in the classroom,” Purvis said.