Rockdale County Public Schools (RCPS) Work Based Learning (WBL) and Youth Apprenticeship Programs (YAP) wrapped a transformative, rewarding year for students and employers by naming the top Interns, Intern Supervisors, Apprentices, and Apprentice Supervisors of the Year. The RCPS WBL Intern Awards Ceremony was held April 18, 2023 and the RCPS YAP Apprentice Awards Banquet was held May 2, 2023 at Rockdale Career Academy.
There were more than 120 students and more than 80 employers participating in these programs, which exposes students to career fields and prepares them to successfully enter the workforce after high school. WBL students have worked more than 24,996 hours in total this year and earned more than $87,576 (mostly by paid apprentices).
The WBL Interns of the Year are Alexis Bumpass, intern at the Center for Sight, and Kaycee Harris, intern at the Rockdale County State Court Judge Nancy Bills’ office. Three employers nominated by their interns were named WBL Intern Supervisors of the Year: Dr. Grace Loy of Internal Medicine Associates of Rockdale, who supervised intern Jasheil Chupuico and influenced her to pursue becoming a doctor; Chief Deputy Clerk Mary Bell of the Rockdale County Clerk of Courts office, who supervised public safety intern Trinity Curtis; RCA Catering Company founders Chef Wes Goodman and Chef Cathy Harris, who are Culinary Arts instructors at RCA, who supervised culinary arts interns Kristin Martin and Melya Folds.
RCPS-WBL Student of the Year, Omar Tapia
The YAP Apprentice of the Year is Shalondria Davidson of Rockdale Medical Center Day Surgery. Three employers nominated by their apprentices were named Apprentice Supervisors of the Year: Bob Sawada of Hillphoenix, who supervised business apprentice Kylie Kersh (Kersh was also chosen to receive the Rockdale Young Professional Leadership scholarship); Willie F. Smith, partner in the Harris + Smith architectural firm, who supervised and inspired aspiring architect K’vaughn Dildy; Nurse Ann Mitchell of Rockdale Medical Center Day Surgery, who supervised and inspired healthcare apprentices Justine McPherson, Shalondria Davidson, Emily Barrus.
The overall WBL and YAP Student of the Year is Omar Tapia, who apprenticed at Hillphoenix and is heading to Georgia Tech to study engineering.
For more information on the RCPS WBL program, contact Tami Maddox, [email protected].
Why was Davonte Smith not mentioned? I understood him to be a selected winner in a particular category…
Thank you for your response. We apologize if we missed including someone but there was no mention of that person in the information we received from RCPS. We will provide your comment to RCPS to get clarification and will plan to make any revisions to the article, as appropriate.