Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School has been awarded $253,000 as part of Governor Baker’s Workforce Capital Grant Program. Superintendent-Director Heidi Riccio stated, “Essex North Shore is grateful to the Governor for his commitment to Career and Technical Education in ensuring our students are prepared with the skills necessary to go far beyond entry-level positions upon graduation.  These funds will be used to expand our existing offerings to meet the needs of the growing workforce on the North Shore related to cybersecurity, automation, and medical assisting.  We anticipate further learning opportunities through our Nighthawks Adult Education Program as we continue to partner with our sending communities.”

The funding will be used to further develop two of the school’s current Career and Technical Education Programs. The Instructional Technology Systems (ITS) Program will expand to include robotics, informatics, programming/web development, and cybersecurity.  ITS Instructor Jody Norton added, “We are very excited to make an even greater impact on our students by providing them a cutting-edge learning environment that is more like the workplace.  This will empower our students to have more control of their learning and equip them with the skills to compete in the evolving Internet Economy of our hyper-connected world.”

The Health Assisting Program will introduce medical billing/coding to the current curriculum.  This grant will also provide funding to renovate the existing space and purchase state-of-the-art equipment.