ACPS, CCS, GCPS Awarded $1 Million GO TEC Grant

By Albemarle County Public Schools

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. — Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS), Charlottesville City Schools (CCS) and Greene County Public Schools (GCPS) have been awarded more than $1 million to bring Great Opportunities in Technology and Engineering Careers (GO TEC) Career Connection Labs to middle schools throughout Region 9.

Developed by the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, GO TEC aims to create dependable talent pipelines by introducing middle school students to emerging STEM-focused career fields through hands-on learning. The program’s Career Connection Labs bring advanced technology curriculum, industry-grade equipment and teacher training to middle school classrooms throughout the Commonwealth.

Governor Glenn Youngkin awarded ACPS, CCS and GCPS $1,016,000 through a Growth and Opportunity for Virginia (GO Virginia) grant to implement seven labs, one for each middle school across the three counties. Funding will support teacher training, equipment purchases, curriculum resources, and regional coordination and technical support to ensure fidelity and long-term sustainability. This project was funded in part by GO Virginia, a state-funded initiative administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) that strengthens and diversifies Virginia's economy and fosters the creation of higher-wage jobs in strategic industries.

Each Career Connection Lab will contain hands-on modules in Information Technology, Automation and Robotics, Precision Machining, Welding, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Metrology, Healthcare Technologies and Biotechnology. These labs turn classrooms into previews of real-world careers, giving students the chance to “try on” different career paths and see what excites them while developing basic technical skills that matter for future learning and work. In these labs, they will also get hands-on experience with machinery and software used in their chosen field of study.

“The implementation of this program in our middle schools is crucial for providing students with meaningful exposure that sparks curiosity, builds awareness of future pathways, and helps students discover emerging interests while understanding how what they are learning today connects to what they may pursue in the future,” Meagan Maynard, ACPS curriculum coordinator and grant administrator, said.

At ACPS, GO TEC aligns directly with our Scholars Studios vision, the Virginia Department of Education’s 3E accreditation goals (Enrolled, Enlisted, Employed) and the new Albemarle Career Exploration Academies. By creating equitable access to early exploration opportunities for our middle school students that lead directly into Scholars Studios in high school, ACPS strengthens our college, career and civic readiness framework.

“What’s most exciting to us about this program is that it’s not a stand-alone program,” Maynard said. “It’s another element that we are adding to our career-connected learning ecosystem to ensure that students have the skills, experiences, and opportunities to thrive in the region’s most important industries.”

ACPS anticipates that, through this grant, more than 3,000 middle school students across Region 9 will take advantage of these programs during the two-year grant period. Planning and implementation for the Career Connection Labs will begin this spring, with the first labs expected to launch during the 2026-27 school year.