GORILLAdigital is announcing a program to provide essential components to educational customers upgrading their computer networks.
The realities of the E-rate system have made it hard for schools to benefit from the advances in the network components industry, but GORILLAdigital has come up with a win-win approach that rewards schools for unbundling network switches to realize the value proposition of going with GORILLAdigital Optics. Each EDU client that standardizes on GORILLAdigital Optics over a 2-year period will receive a commensurate level of business partnership development services for Career & Technical Education programs at no charge. Details on the services are provided in the CTE Blog on this site. Typical GORILLAdigital Optic projects will be up to 50% less costly than manufacturer optics, but with the same performance specifications, in fact, GORILLAdigital Optics offer a life-time warranty.
Also, K12 districts that work with GORILLAdigital can apply for free business partnership development services for Career & Technical Education Programs in the district. Many Career & Technical Education programs across the US require businesses to play a significant role. In California there are more than 500 schools with career pathway programs focusing on automotive, digital media, healthcare, culinary arts, etc., and these programs are required by state law to enlist local businesses to participate to qualify for state funding. Businesses can participate by providing (but are not limited to) job shadowing opportunities, internships, guest speakers, site visits, etc. GORILLAdigital had several of these programs as clients and Chris became fascinated with the “school-within-a-school” model of education. He came to appreciate how hard it was for educators to run these academies AND run a business recruitment operation at the same time. As a volunteer conducting exit interviews of academy high school students, Chris spoke with a student who taught himself CAD drawing, but struggled to find a summer internship. How could this be?
To garner more data, Chris undertook a survey of businesses in Northern Orange County, CA to gauge owners’ attitudes about workforce development. Not only were owner’s worried about finding young, new workers, but many verbalized the possibility of closing their business as their baby boomer-aged workers retired. These owners are willing to participate in any program that identifies and trains workers for their industry, and the owners are willing to provide input on curriculum for optimal training.
Hopefully, the GORILLAdigital proposal finds willing educational partners and each party does their part to bring resources to bare for faster computer networks and robust Career & Technical Education Programs. Interested parties are asked to forward this to anyone in the network who might take advantage of this program.
