Wilkes County has become a certified Work Ready Community this week after some 40 Wilkes workers earned their Work Ready certificates last week. The effort, along with the county’s high-school graduation rate, shows potential employers that the county has the talented workforce that business and industry demands.

The newly certified workers join nearly 600 other workers who have passed the Work Keys tests in Wilkes County in a two-year effort begun by then-county Commissioner Donna Hardy. “We’ve now got certificate holders in all categories to get a tentative certification as Work Ready,” said Wilkes County Commissioner Ed Geddings, who is also a board member at Athens Technical College.

The second part of earning the Work Ready Community designation is the achievement of an increase in high-school graduation rate, which Wilkes County has far surpassed with an 88.7 percent grad rate. “Our high school is doing a great job, and our high graduation rate is a big deal when it comes to attracting industries here,” Geddings said.

The attainment of the designation for Wilkes County has been the work of many hands. “In addition to Donna Hardy,” Geddings said, “many people have supported the process and helped move this along, including Polly Fievet, Carolyn Reynolds, Steve Echols, and Mark Ward at the high school, and several others. We’ve had good support from Athens Tech’s vice president of economic development services Jerry Barrow, and from Athens Tech’s president, Dr. Flora Tydings.”

Maintaining the Work Ready designation is an ongoing process, Geddings said. “This is just the first stage. The next stage is to continue the testing to sustain this level of participation, and it’s vital that we do that. This is the future of employment – many employers won’t even take an application from someone unless they’re certified.”