Educational Pathways to Innovative Careers (EPIC) is in its fourth year of helping provide career and technical education (CTE) opportunities in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River Basin and recently announced partnerships with all four area school districts and 10 high schools, including Aspen High School.
The partnership will provide access to CTE programs to more than 6,500 area students, including more than 1,600 seniors at a critical juncture in their post-graduation career choices. “With more than 50 percent of students locally and nationally choosing not to attend college, this is an opportunity to provide meaningful career education and work-based learning experiences,” said Colorado River Board of Educational Services (BOCES) Executive Director Ken Haptonstall.
EPIC was established to meet this need.
In 2023, 307 students from five high schools participated in the EPIC program, helping 34 graduates secure full-time jobs in sectors such as automotive, construction, technology, hospitality and tourism.
Haptonstall said this marks a significant increase from EPIC’s first year, when 64 students from two high schools participated.
“Thanks to the dedicated efforts of our management team and the support of our growing network of stakeholders, EPIC has been able to secure funding to support the current phase of our efforts, including this fiscal year,” he said.
Mike Rowe, executive director of COVENTURE, a Carbondale-based business and solutions innovation center and EPIC industry partner, spoke about the program’s growth.
“In the first year of implementing this scheme, 12 students secured job offers by the time they reached their final year. In the second year, 37 students secured job offers and last year, 54 students secured job offers,” he said, adding, “We are very pleased with these statistics. In total, over 100 students have secured employment, representing an employment rate of 85 per cent.”
He said a big factor in this success is access to affordable housing, noting that “most of our students, if not all of them, still live with their parents or grandparents.”
He explained that many who start businesses in the valley quit after three months due to the high cost of living.
“For us, it really confirms that helping local kids get local jobs is a win-win for the community,” he said.
Pitkin County Commissioner Chairman Greg Poschman expressed his gratitude to fellow Commissioner Francie Jacober for introducing Rowe and EPIC to the committee.
“Jacober heard about EPIC first, and then I went to meet with them,” he said. “I think it’s a great thing. We’ve been focusing on nonprofits that are important to the community.”
He also acknowledged the challenges of limited funding.
“The Healthy Communities Fund has a limited budget and that money could go to any one organization, but we want to allocate it wisely,” he said.
Moving forward, EPIC aims to continue and expand this important work beyond the next school year and has asked the Pitkin County Commission for their support. During a recent work session, Rowe asked Pitkin County to consider donating $50,000 per year to support this effort.
Garfield County has also committed to contributing $100,000 per year for the next five years.
“I like to invest in these non-governmental organizations that have passionate people doing their jobs efficiently and effectively,” Lowe said. “I prefer that to expanding local government.”
“We hope to give hope to all the kids who don’t have aspirations to go to college and help them find a good job,” he added. “In addition to the 100 kids who got jobs, we had 320 kids in the program last year and 543 this year. Every year we keep on raising the bar.”
He hopes the group will start telling middle school students about the program by 2025.
As an educational institution, EPIC relies on grants, sponsorships and donations to provide the rich programming, career coaching and work-based learning opportunities essential to the success of its programs. To learn more about EPIC’s plans to build a comprehensive career and technical education initiative, visit its website at pathwaycenter.org..
Westley Crouch covers city of Aspen and general coverage for The Aspen Times. He can be reached at 970-384-9124 or wcrouch@aspentimes.com.
