Ken Slantz, representing the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, described career and technical pathways at Groves High School and said the school has purchased two simulators to help students earn industry-ready skills.

The programs are intended to prepare students for immediate employment and industry certification. "A career and not a job. We have a vast majority of different pathways to allow these students to be well equipped," a Student said, listing certifications and pathways from "heavy equipment operations to maritime logistics to aviation maintenance." The Student added, "You learn the way how a job will work. You learn on-site work habits, what do's and what you don'ts. You learn how to operate equipment, and when you start working, you know what to do."

Nut graf: Groves' offerings span hands-on trades and technical fields and emphasize both hard and soft skills; school staff said the simulators are a practical training tool that issues completion certificates employers can view.

School speakers said programs include heavy equipment operations, maritime logistics, aviation maintenance, cyber security, business and technology, and culinary/food and nutrition. A Staff member noted the school emphasizes soft skills—punctuality, communication and teamwork—alongside technical instruction, and that the district has bought simulators from Blueworks to create realistic training before students can operate equipment in the field. "The 2 simulators that, that they did purchase will be able to train about, 10 to 20 students per week, and get fully fully trained, and then they can print their certificate of completion, and share it with potential employers," another Staff member said.

Speakers also said the simulator software can be updated with equipment-specific modules. A Staff member described examples: "So those kids can actually, you know, train for what they need. He can actually give me that software so the kids can know how to use cherry pickers. Turret trucks, they need to know how to use those. We're talking about jockey trucks." Ken Slantz concluded by calling the simulators "just 1 of the tools Groves has on-site to help train our young adults for their future."

There were no formal motions or votes recorded in the transcript excerpt. The discussion focused on program offerings, skills training and simulator capacity rather than budget or procurement details, which were not specified.