Regional Spotlight: Hampton Roads Business Education Collaborative Spotlight Hampton Roads Business Education Collaborative (HRBEC) is a growing network of regional organizations focusing on improving workplace readiness skills in Hampton Roads. HRBEC was initiated by Canon Information Technology Services (Canon ITS), in Chesapeake, in collaboration with the Virginia Beach Advanced Technology Center, Opportunity Inc. and Junior Achievement. The intent of HRBEC was to have regional businesses provide "relevancy deep dives" of information about their organizations and employment requirements.  Essentially, demonstrating to the high school students of Hampton Roads how what they’re learning in class (about business education and readiness) is actually put into practice in business. However, logistics were the biggest barrier.  Barriers to the schools that didn't have the ability to take their kids on numerous field trips related to business.  Barriers to the organizations who looked at a potentially overwhelming condition of "too many" visitors to receive and inform (from a practical perspective). So HRBEC deployed the concept of "Virtual Tours" with respect to the companies and organizations within Hampton Roads.  By going virtual, HRBEC addresses the matter of scalability... the opportunity to communicate to high school students in mass, through the internet (in class, libraries, home, Starbucks), wherever a student has connectivity. Although HRBEC starts the relationship virtually, that is a just lead-in for conventional and future activity such as internships, etc.  These are optional and selectable by the organization. LINK: Hampton Roads Business Education Collaborative Regional Spotlight Archive: Read More About What's Working in Hampton Roads