At the Superintendent's Business Breakfast, PWCS and SPARK honored Novant/UVA Health Systems with the Sharon Henry Community Partner of the Year for 2021 for their coordination of COVID-19 vaccination locations serving the Greater Prince William community.
Each
year,
SPARK
works
closely
with
business
leaders
in
the
community
and
Prince
William
County
Public
Schools
and
its
departments,
to
identify
business
and
community
partnerships
making
the
most
positive
impact
on
academics
and
student
achievement.
PWCS
and
SPARK
also
presented
the
Partnership
of
the
Year
award
for
2020
to
Amazon
Web
Services
(AWS)
in
partnership
with
River
Oaks
Elementary
School,
Food
Lion
Store
#1249
in
partnership
with
Forest
Park
High
School,
and
I-66
Express
Mobility
Partners
in
partnership
with
the
Office
of
Student
Learning,
Science
and
Family
Life
Education.
AWS
and
River
Oaks
Elementary
collaborated
to
empower
students
to
become
knowledgeable,
engaged
citizens,
and
innovators.
To
do
so,
they
established
the
world's
first
AWS
science,
technology,
engineering,
arts,
and
mathematics
(STEAM)
Lab
called
the
Think
Big
Space.
This
space
provides
students
from
all
over
the
Division
access
to
learn
about
augmented
reality,
artificial
intelligence,
machine
learning,
coding,
and
robotics.
Food
Lion
and
Forest
Park
High's
partnership
has
provided
students
the
opportunity
to
understand
work-place
readiness
skills
and
how
they
are
actualized
in
the
real
world.
From
mock
interviews
to
practice
job
applications,
this
partnership
aims
to
help
students
prepare
for
their
Workplace
Readiness
Industry
Certification.
Since
the
partnership
began
in
2017,
the
Workplace
Readiness
Industry
Certification
pass
rate
at
Forest
Park
has
increased
by
30
percent.
I-66
Express
Mobility
Partners
partnered
with
PWCS
this
past
year
to
sponsor
the
Prince
William-Manassas
Regional
Science
and
Engineering
Fair.
The
sponsorship
was
part
of
a
more
than
$30,000
donation
to
the
Division
for
STEM
educational
efforts.
The
partnership
aims
to
strengthen
the
quality
and
quantity
of
student
participation
in
future
Science
and
Engineering
Fairs
as
well
as
support
the
growth
of
STEM
education
in
elementary
schools.
"SPARK is truly grateful for the continued support of our business partners. This year's recipients exemplify community outreach and support for our PWCS students and teachers," said SPARK Executive Director Dawn Davis.