The K-12 Educator Summit: The Special Sauce
By Chris Berleth
Every successful recipe has a secret ingredient. For the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce, that “special sauce” is the Foundation of the Columbia Montour Chamber. For 31 years, the Foundation has bridged the gap between education and industry, shaping the future workforce through innovative programs and strong partnerships with local schools.
This week’s Annual K-12 Educator Summit at the Mulberry Mill was a shining example of that mission in action. Nearly 60 educators and business leaders gathered to tackle a critical question: How do we better prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow?
Why This Summit Matters
The Summit is more than an annual meeting—it’s a collaborative workshop where educators and employers work together to design solutions. Educators told us what they need: real financial literacy tools, industry-focused curriculum resources, and better access to internships, job shadowing, and career fairs. They aim to connect students with real-world skills while addressing challenges such as transportation, mental health, and food insecurity.
Employers, in turn, shared what they’re looking for: job-ready graduates with strong communication, problem-solving, and financial skills. The gap between these needs is where the Chamber Foundation thrives.
Turning Ideas into Action
Since last year’s Summit, we’ve transformed feedback into tangible initiatives. We're proud to continue fantastic programs like What's So Cool About Manufacturing?, BSA Learning for Life with Guest Lecturers, which offers career exploration opportunities for middle schoolers and high schoolers, Tech Theater, Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week Scholarships, and more. Our efforts extend beyond the classroom through programs like the Se.A.L. Challenge, which offers students a forum for curiosity and confidence as they step into S.T.E.M. career experiences through the engineering and building of drones, land rovers, and underwater vehicles.
We're also excited to expand Foundation offerings. With support from an Arconic Foundation Grant, we announced the relaunch of Educator in the Workplace next summer—an immersive program that takes teachers inside local businesses to experience the careers and skills driving our economy.
In Fall of 2025, we'll begin staffing the Adopt a School program founded by B.I.D.A. (through their Think Tank and Employer Roundtable initiatives) with the expectation of continuing an established, direct line of communication and resources between schools and employers. (Special thanks to the B.I.D.A. staff team and Board for their trust in continuing this great initiative.)
Thanks to sponsorship from Journey Bank, the Foundation is proudly delivering Financial Literacy in the Susquehanna Valley—an EITC-approved initiative in partnership with nonprofit Brighter Financial Futures. This program offers engaging, hands-on, and gamified financial literacy training to students in all eight school districts across Columbia and Montour Counties, using interactive tools like the Personal Finance Lab to teach essential life skills—budgeting, credit, taxes, and more.
A Hub, Not the Whole
Don't get me wrong - The Chamber and its Foundation are not the end-all, be-all of youth-serving programs. Far from it! Rather, we serve as a regional resource center that values partnerships, and we delight in pointing students, educators, parents, and businesses to other impactful community initiatives. We could spend days highlighting those nonprofits and partners, but we were especially proud to lift up a few during the Summit, including: Community Giving Foundation's Youth in Philanthropy program, Advance Central PA’s Career Pathways initiatives, the outstanding work of the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit, and the resources provided by PA CareerLink, to name just a few. It was also not lost on the guests who attended the summit that the Bloomsburg Children's Museum were hosting a summer program on the other side of the building!
The Bigger Picture
The K-12 Educator Summit is not just about solving today’s challenges—it’s about building tomorrow’s workforce. Last year's conversations sparked collaborations that outlast a single event, and we continue to collaborate in the summit so as to align our schools and businesses in a shared mission: preparing students for life beyond graduation.
In a week of professional development training through the U.S. Chamber's Institute for Organization Management, I was shocked to learn how few communities have programs like ours, and not for lack of trying. Thanks to highly committed partners and sponsors and our Foundation’s three decades of investment in education and workforce development, we are proud to work together with so many in an effort to shape the next generation of leaders and innovators.
To be a part of that effort, please connect with us at foundation@columbiamontourchamber.com. The work we do together today is the “special sauce” that fuels our region’s future success.