ELKINS — The Elkins-Randolph County Chamber and Randolph County CLIMB have joined forces to host the Leadership Ready program to high school students from Randolph County.

Leadership Ready is a week-long leadership development initiative that helps students explore career pathways, strengthen leadership skills, connect with community leaders, and gain a deeper understanding of opportunities available in the county.

“This is our high school program that we designed to help high school students explore our county and understand that there are things for them to do in the county both career wise and fun,” said Elkins-Randolph Chamber Executive Director Karrah Washington. “In addition to learning, we take them to Stuarts Park to swim, we go canoeing, we do archery at Izaak Walton League and other things like that.”

The week-long course got underway today and will run through Friday. There are 17 students from Elkins High School and Tygarts Valley High School taking part in the initiative. Throughout the week, participants will engage in hands-on experiences, visit local businesses and organizations, hear from community leaders and develop skills that will serve them for years to come.

Today’s career introduction was in Healthcare & Healthy Living and the partner for the session was WVU Medicine. The students will be introduced to Emerging Technology on Tuesday, with Mountain Valley Bank serving as the partner. On Wednesday the partner will be Huntington Bank, with the focus being on Manufacturing and Trades.

On Thursday, the focus will be becoming a community champion with CPA Kristie Vandevander and on Friday Elkins Auto will be the partner and will teach the students about being an entrepreneur.

“The kids get a little bit of everything with this program,” Washington said. “On Tuesday we actually will be taking them to Graceland for a full-course meal where they have an etiquette lesson.”

The program is open to any student in the county and is free due to the generosity of scholarship sponsors. At the end of the week after Friday’s session, the students are treated to a Graduation Dinner at the First United Methodist Church.

For more information contact the Elkins-Randolph County Chamber at 304-636-2717 or visit the organization’s website at www.erccc.com.