Business teacher Nashute Ragster-Manuel (left) and two students of Green Oaks Performing Arts Academy.
More than 58,000 RISE Up credentials were earned in 2023, many by high school students.
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Nashute Ragster-Manuel, a business teacher at Green Oaks Performing Arts Academy in Shreveport, La., has used the RISE Up training program in her classroom for nearly eight years, teaching her students foundational skills to help them get hired in retail and forge a path to success after graduation.
Ragster-Manuel emphasizes that if students are searching for a job, her class provides the resources and tools to help individuals achieve employment.
She has found new and innovative ways to adapt the RISE Up curriculum in her classroom, incorporating engaging activities to apply the skills being learned including the use of mannequins to showcase different workplace dress codes, an in-classroom rendition of Shark Tank where students present a marketing pitch to business-owning sharks offering low amounts of seed money, and mock interviews between students and external partners.
“This program doesn’t give them a handout — it gives them a hand up.”
“This program doesn’t give them a handout — it gives them a hand up,” Ragster-Manuel says. “It helps them see their own potential.”
Beyond Ragster-Manuel’s creative and engaging classroom activities, she has also partnered with an assortment of retailers including Whataburger, The Kroger Co. and Old Navy to help students find jobs after they complete their certification.
The educator wants to expose students to all sorts of career options in retail, to look beyond a cashier position and understand the possibilities within the industry.
“I want to give them an opportunity for exposure because without exposure they can’t grow,” Ragster-Manuel says. “With exposure to new things and helping them think outside the box about careers, it causes them to say, ‘Hey I can do this.’”
RISE Up is the NRF Foundation training and credentialing program that provides foundational employability skills to help people land jobs and get promoted in retail and beyond.
Our curriculum and exams are industry-recognized and were developed in collaboration with more than 20 retailers, including Walmart, Macy’s, The Home Depot, Burlington Stores, BJs Wholesale Club and Nordstrom. And we’re proud to partner with more than 3,000 training partners across the country.
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