On February 23, 2022, Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, accepted the Hard Hat award from the King’s employability class.

The Hard Hat award is given to recognize students and people for their work with employability. The Hard Hat award promotes different careers and pathways that students can follow after leaving high school. Dustin Goldie, the teacher of the class, reached out to Husted to ask him to be the recipient of this year’s annual Hard Hat award based on the work he does for Ohio’s workforce and community.

For Husted, the role of Lieutenant Governor means, “really trying to bring together technology, job growth, and talent production so that we have plenty of jobs for people, we have plenty of people getting the right kinds of skills so that they can succeed.”

Mr.Husted traveled here to accept the award and gave the students of the employability class a speech.

“I was honored to be at Kings high school to receive the hard hat award. I consider that a great honor because I know how important that is, what a symbol that is,” said Husted. “the fact that they honored me by giving me that award made me feel like I was part of the team.”

Husted sees the value of schools and businesses tying together both personal and technical skills that will help students transition from the classroom to the workplace.

“Right now is a great time to be out in the job market because we are creating jobs faster than we can find people to fill them. It really is an employee marketplace. Businesses need talent more than ever. They’re having a hard time finding it,” said Husted.

Husted recognizes that potential employees still face barriers to entering the workforce with lack of transportation, lack of child care, or the need for health care benefits.

“What we do is try to knock down barriers and try to connect people to education and job opportunities and empower them to try and knock down their own problems,” said Husted.