March 26, 2025
By BARTON HENLEY
Rutherford County Schools
A group of 24 high school seniors from Eagleville School participated in a pilot Problem-Solving Course on March 12 and 14, an initiative designed to equip students with critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed in today’s workforce.
The course was developed through a collaboration between the Rutherford County Career and Technical Education Department, Rutherford Works, and Nissan. Local industry leaders have identified problem-solving and critical thinking as two of the most sought-after skills for future employees.
Dan Caldwell, senior regional workforce development lead at Nissan, Greg Jones, senior vice president of education workforce development at the Chamber of Commerce, and Leslie Trail, instructional coach at Eagleville School, led the two-day training.
Students engaged in hands-on learning experiences, using industry-standard tools such as process maps, bar graphs, Pareto charts, brainstorming techniques, affinity diagrams, and payoff matrices to analyze and solve real-world problems. Working in teams of six, participants applied these tools to develop innovative solutions.
Matthew Martin, an Eagleville senior, said the course allowed him to "connect and work with people" he would not normally interact with. Fellow senior Lauren Wingler emphasized the value of teamwork, stating she learned "how to work as a team to collectively solve problems," a skill she plans to carry into her future career.
The ultimate goal of the initiative is to expand into an industry certification program, ensuring students are prepared to meet the evolving needs of local employers.
Thank you to the Rutherford Chamber of Commerce and Nissan for allowing RCS students the opportunity to participate in this.