When Matt Newman stands in front of a room of high schoolers to talk about life after high school, he likes to share the story behind his Mountain Empire Community College ID cards. That’s right. Cards, plural. The path to where he is today, a FastForward…
Moving into a new year is like hitting the reset button. It’s a nice time to pause and reflect on the previous year and see what worked and what didn’t. And for some of us, what didn’t work may be our careers. While our primary goal…
Going through workforce training doesn’t have to be complicated. A little planning and organization can go a long way. Before you reach out to your local FastForward Career Coach, here are three things you can do to make things run as smoothly as possible. Do some…
We talk a lot about FastForward being one of the most affordable options in higher education, but we don’t always put our money where our mouth is. While every body has different levels of access to funding, whether it be income-based or some other designation (like…
Short-term training is quick and flexible, meaning you don’t have time to plan out or invest in a multi-year academic program to start reaching your career goals. That said, even programs with the quickest turnaround require a little bit a planning to ensure the training fits…
Right now, there are 131,000 Virginians who are behind bars or are otherwise subject to the criminal justice system, according to data from PrisonPolicy.org. As incarcerated individuals get released (around 12,000 per year), it can be hard to find jobs or pathways that allow them to…
Our FastForward Career Coaches come from all walks of life. Some were career switchers, who always had a passion for helping people but never found the right opportunity to do so. Others were lifelong educators bound to be leaders, mentors and coaches for their students and…
For some of us, when we see an opportunity to help someone in need, we jump right in and give it everything we have. Adrianna Culbertson, the FastForward Career Coach at Southwest Virginia Community College, is one of those people. Culbertson came to SWVCC as a…
When you enroll in a FastForward training program, you’re not only getting hands-on training from industry professionals, but you have access to all the benefits of being a community college student. Your advisor comes in the form of our FastForward Career Coaches, who serve as navigators,…
Our students juggle a lot: family, job(s), life. But that’s where our FastForward Career Coaches can help. Our coaches are here to help students prioritize their to-dos and figure out a solution to some of the common challenges to fitting training into their schedules. “We talk…