Visiting Fredricksburg
Governor Warner spent Thursday in the Fredericksburg region, meeting and speaking with hundreds of employees at GEICO’s local facility, holding a productive midday conversation with local African-American ministers, and then touring downtown Fredericksburg with local business and political leaders.
While walking down Caroline Street with a group of old and new friends, Governor Warner stopped in many local establishments, including Corky’s, which he described as one of the “coolest and weirdest” stores he’s ever been in. He also made a special stop at an old favorite, Goolrick’s pharmacy, where he took the opportunity to get one of their chocolate cokes.
WFLS Radio’s Bill Dubensky covered the Governor’s visit and filed this story.
Governor Warner also spoke at the graduation ceremony for Career Training Solutions, which offers a variety of career and technical education certificates. Governor Warner spent a lot of time and effort as Governor working to improve the curriculum and boost the profile of career and technical education, and about 500 students and their families were very supportive of his presence at their ceremony.
When I was running for Virginia Governor back in 2001, I often spoke of the need to strengthen career and technical education. We need to value plumbers, electricians, and medical assistants the same way we value lawyers and accountants.
For me, the importance of career and technical education is based on the trends we’ve seen in private business for several years now – namely, the increasingly technical requirements for jobs that once were seen as semi-skilled or even un-skilled.
The fact is, and you all know this, while a high school diploma was enough to earn a decent living in the last century, it is not enough now that we’re in a 21st century economy.
The Governor ended his day in Fredericksburg by joining local Republican Congressman Rob Wittman at a reception for members of the Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce.
The Free Lance-Star covered Governor’s Warner latest “Hometown Days,” and you can view their story and photos here.