The Workforce Is Calling.
CORE - Career Opportunities and Real-World Experiences - connects New Hanover County Schools with local businesses and organizations to give students meaningful, career-connected experiences in real workplaces. When you partner with CORE, you're not just supporting a student. You're investing in the future workforce of Wilmington.
What Is a CORE Partner?
A CORE partner is a local business or organization that opens its doors to NHCS students — providing hands-on, career-connected experiences that go far beyond what any classroom can offer.
Partnerships are flexible and built around your organization's capacity, goals, and industry needs. Opportunities may include:
- Hosting student interns (paid or unpaid)
- Providing job shadowing experiences and career tours
- Serving as mentors or guest speakers
- Participating in career panels or classroom visits
- Collaborating on student-led projects or special initiatives
Build Your Future Workforce: The workforce is calling for skilled, career-ready graduates - and CORE partners help make that happen. Work directly with students developing the skills, professionalism, and work ethic your industry needs, before they ever graduate.
Strengthen Your Talent Pipeline: Connect with motivated, career-focused students early. Build relationships with future job candidates and reduce recruiting and onboarding costs down the road.
Invest In Your Community: Partnering with CORE is one of the most visible ways a Wilmington-area business can demonstrate its commitment to education, opportunity, and local workforce development.
Bring Fresh Perspective: Students bring new ideas, energy, and problem-solving approaches to real workplace challenges. The exchange benefits everyone in the room.
What CORE Partners Provide
NHCS handles the coordination - your job is to show up and share your expertise. Partners help create meaningful learning experiences by:
- Providing a safe, supervised, and professional workplace environment
- Offering authentic, skill-based tasks aligned to real workplace goals
- Supporting student learning through mentorship and day-to-day guidance
- Completing midterm and final student evaluations
- Coordinating with NHCS CTE staff for onboarding and site visits
We work closely with every partner to make sure expectations are clear and the experience is valuable for both the student and your organization.
What NHCS Provides
NHCS supports every CORE partner throughout the entire work-based learning experience. Each student is assigned a dedicated Career Engagement Coordinator who will:
- Arrange or support the student in securing an appropriate placement
- Approve internship placements to ensure alignment with program requirements
- Manage student course enrollment and academic credit
- Monitor the internship throughout its duration
- Collaborate with both the student and partner to ensure learning goals are met
- Ensure students repeating an internship are gaining new skills, not repeating prior learning
- Conduct at least two on-site visits to observe and support the student in their role
NHCS also provides insurance coverage for all students participating in approved Work-Based Learning experiences, including CORE internships, while engaged in program-related activities.
Our CORE Partners
These Are the Businesses Answering the Call.
CORE is proud to collaborate with a growing network of local employers, organizations, and institutions committed to student success and workforce development across New Hanover County. Every logo below represents a business that chose to invest in the next generation.
New Hanover County Schools and its Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs do not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age or disability, in its activities and programs, including employment policies and practices.
Las Escuelas del Condado de New Hanover y su Programa de Educación en Carreras Técnicas no discrimina a ninguna persona de sus actividades o programas, incluyendo prácticas de empleo, por razones de raza, color, religión, nacionalidad, sexo, edad, o discapacidad.