Blue Hills Regional Technical School Welcomes Newly Appointed School to Careers Coordinator
Superintendent Jill Rossetti is pleased to share that Jonathan Pryor has been chosen as the new School to Careers Coordinator for Blue Hills Regional Technical School.
Pryor, a Northborough resident, started his role on Jan. 30. In this role, Pryor will be responsible for fostering collaboration between businesses, school systems, and respective organizations to prepare students for a highly skilled workforce by coordinating work-based learning activities and post-secondary career opportunities that help students learn the skills necessary to be successful in the workplace.
"We are pleased to welcome Jonathan into his new role as Blue Hills' School to Careers Coordinator," said Superintendent Rossetti. "I am confident he brings the necessary background and skill set to excel in this position, and I look forward to watching him continue to grow and expand upon our program's opportunities."
Pryor has extensive experience working in career technical education. He most recently served as a curriculum development consultant for Quinsigamond Community College. In this role, Pryor was responsible for researching and developing a new applied science program for the building trades.
Prior to this role, Pryor served as the vocational coordinator for Northbridge High School from 2018-2019. While serving in this role, Pryor oversaw the Innovation Pathways programs and Career Academies. He also authored a $500,000 Capital Skills grant to fund new innovation pathways programs in biotechnology and authored a grant with Project Lead the Way toimplement their IT and Cybersecurity curriculum for innovation pathway students. During this time, Pryor also developed internship programs with UNIBank, Salmon Health Care and other small businesses in the community, resulting in transferable credentials for participating senior students.
While at Northbridge, Pryor also developed a "career exploration speaker series" that prepared students for job shadowing experiences in the healthcare, advanced manufacturing, banking and IT fields. He also partnered with Quinsigamond Community College while at Northbridge to qualify staff members as adjunct professors, resulting in 12 college credits for students in each staff member's qualifying classes.
Additionally, Pryor served as a carpentry Instructor for Greater Lowell Technical High School from 2019-2021. In this role, he created internship and cooperative education relationships with industry partners. Under Pryor's leadership, Greater Lowell's carpentry program partnered with the non-profit organization The Furniture Trust. As part of this partnership, Pryor's students participated in the non-profit's eco-carpentry challenge, a carpentry competition that challenges students to re-purpose old office furniture to create something new and meaningful that would otherwise be headed to a landfill.
Pryor also worked with Greater Lowell's culinary program, which comprised of students with developmental and cognitive disabilities, to build an ice cream cart to be used at events during the school year.
From 2015-2018, Pryor served as the construction/community service cluster chairman carpentry instructor at Nashoba Valley Technical High School. In this role, he oversaw the cooperative education placement process for the cluster, including identifying potential employers, developing career plans and conducting site visits. Pryor also oversaw community service opportunities for students and community partners. During this time, Pryor's students were recognized at a School Committee meeting and featured on WCVB's "5 for Good" after repurposing materials and furnishing a bed for a Syrian refugee family.
Most recently, Pryor partnered with Quinsigamond Community College and MassHire Central Career Center to help develop apprenticeship programs and curricula targeting the building trades and manufacturing.
"My experiences in construction coupled with my oversight of cooperative education and internship programs have equipped me with the tools needed to help grow Blue Hill's School to Careers program and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as the program's new coordinator," said Pryor. "I look forward to taking the next steps in preparing our Blue Hills students to be productive citizens and life-long learners for tomorrow's careers."
Pryor holds a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Stony Brook University and a master's degree in vocational and technical education from Westfield State University.
About Blue Hills School to Careers Program
The Blue Hills School to Careers (STC) program involves community partners working together to provide students with opportunities to discover and explore their interests and to provide them with the skills and confidence to successfully join post-secondary training or the workforce.
The STC program makes learning relevant by bringing private and public organizations together through industry-specific seminars, business site visits, classroom speakers, mentorships, internships, job shadow days, professional Q&A panels, student leadership workshops, interactions with healthcare employees such as nurses, bio-engineering, STEM careers, accounting and banking.
The Blue Hills School to Careers program's mission is to prepare all students to be productive citizens and lifelong learners for tomorrow's careers through the integration of school-based learning, work-based learning and connecting activities.
Students from seven diverse town high schools and middle schools along with Blue Hills Regional Technical School students participate in the Blue Hills School to Careers Partnership program. Participating towns include Avon, Canton, Dedham, Holbrook, Milton, Norwood and Randolph.
Local business partners seeking to participate to support the School to Careers partnership program, contact Jonathan Pryor at jpryor@bluehills.org.
To learn more about Blue Hills School to Careers Program, click here