ACE MV, the Island’s adult and community education organization, will host its first Career Pathways Night next week.

Employers and representatives from local companies, trade schools, scholarship providers and community colleges will be on hand to give students a broad picture of a variety of career and education options.  

“This event and all of the partnerships that we’ve really focused on in recent years are a result of the shift in landscape in what students and administration are seeing in both high schools, which is that students are showing on some levels, a greater interest in a wider variety of options after high school graduation,” said ACE MV executive director Alex Bullen Coutts.  

The event will take place Wednesday, Nov. 13 at the Performing Arts Center in partnership with the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

Co-founder of Nelson Mechanical Design, David Sprague, will take part in the career night, and said he wants to encourage the trades as a key option for Island youth. 

“I think the outreach to inform people about what the trades are now [is important] because the trades have changed over the past 30 years that I’ve been doing it,” he said. “Letting people know that it is a viable exciting profitable career path that requires lots of training but it doesn’t require you to go to a two or four year degree university type situation.” 

The community of tradespeople is a tight-knit group, according to Mr. Sprague, who sees that as a benefit when encouraging the next generation.

“We see all these career needs and I think as a small community we’re all working together,” he said. “All these people are trying to boost trades in their own way. It’s really a communal effort and I’m happy to be a cog in the whole process here and really hoping we can do this annually for outreach.” 

Working more closely with the regional high school has been an ongoing process, Ms. Coutts said. 

ACE MV also partners with many organizations on Island, including MV Youth to offer academic and workforce scholarships to young adults.

Olivia MacPherson is currently a freshman at Bridgewater State University studying education thanks in part due to an MV Youth workforce scholarship. She was a part of ACE MV’s early childhood education career exploration program, and received college credit while in high school by taking night classes at Cape Cod Community College. She said she also met lifelong mentors and industry professionals through the process. 

“I loved this program when I participated in it and I still value every lesson I took from it and thank them very much for the support,” she said. “They are a huge reason I was able to do as much as I could do when I was able to.”

Daniel da Silva is also a past recipient of a workforce scholarship from MY Youth and is currently working at a barber shop in Wellesley.  

“They basically helped me with everything,” he said of MV Youth. “When I was in barber school they paid for my tuition....and rent. Practically, I just had to go to school and feed myself, which started my career.” 

Ms. Coutts said she hopes the career night event helps reach a broad section of the Island community and is the start of similar ones. 

“We know there’s a lot jammed into this event but we’re really hoping there’s something for everyone and people should feel free to drop in to whatever is most interesting to their student and themselves,” she said.

ACE MV’s Career Pathways Night takes place Wednesday, Nov. 13 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.