PENCIL Partners are businesses, universities, community organizations, professional associations, faith communities, government departments, and other groups and individuals who agree to partner with Metro Nashville Public Schools. Partners invest time, treasure, and talent in Metro schools to address the lack of equitable access to resources.
Each partnership is unique and designed to serve the individual needs of the school and the partner.
PENCIL Partners support MNPS in the following ways:
If you are not able to attend an info session, please contact Alayna Cate, Director of Partnerships, at ACate@PENCIL615.org.
Many PENCIL Partners directly help students explore career pathways through their connections with the Academies of Nashville (AON). The AON are high school Career Academies that strengthen student skills in workforce-specific focus areas, such as arts, engineering, hospitality, information technology, and healthcare, and are a major part of the Metro Nashville high school experience.
PENCIL’s goal is to match industry partners to the appropriate school or Academy, help the partner plan a set of activities and student engagements for the year, and then nurture that partnership so that students gain meaningful career exposure and make valuable real-world connections.