PRESQUE ISLE – Across the state, education and government officials routinely talk about ways to best prepare students for college, their future careers and any civic responsibilities they may hold.

Although there are lots of individual discussions, there are relatively few opportunities to gather everyone to share information and ideas about such preparation strategies.

Now, Northern Maine Community College has created one.

Today NMCC will welcome educators and business representatives from throughout northern Maine who will gather on the Presque Isle campus to participate in an inaugural countywide workshop to discuss the best techniques to ready students for their future.

A daylong session, the Aroostook County Educational Summit is a collaborative effort between NMCC, the Aroostook Partnership for Progress, the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Husson College and the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

Participants are expected to include secondary teachers and administrators, postsecondary teachers and administrators, and business leaders.

“We’ve got about 50 people signed up so far,” Elizabeth Crawford, NMCC’s Tech Prep coordinator and the head organizer of the event, said Tuesday. “It’s a good cross section of the community.”

Everyone involved, she noted, has a deep interest in preparing young people to be successful.

One of the highlights of the summit will be a panel discussion that will focus on the most significant challenges facing County education and business entities in the next five to eight years, she said.

The discussion also will solicit the panelists’ thoughts on the skills that they feel students and employees alike will need to possess.

“I think that there are a lot of challenges facing both education and businesses,” Crawford said. “That includes everything from the ‘brain drain’ to challenges in customer service and even attendance and work habits. Our goal is to get everyone together and talk about them so that we can identify these challenges – many of which we share – and do a better job preparing our students for the world and for lifelong success.

“Several groups have had similar discussions on a smaller scope – we’re going to take a day and get everyone together for a larger conversation,” she continued.

Participating on the panel will be Roger Shaw, superintendent of SAD 42 in Mars Hill; Thomas Umphrey, senior vice president of human resources for The Aroostook Medical Center; Lynn Lombard, vice president of human resources for MMG Insurance Co.; Nina LoBalbo, human resource director for J.M. Huber’s Easton plant; Timothy Crowley, NMCC president; Donald Zillman, UMPI president; and Rachel Albert, UMFK vice president for academic affairs.

After the panel discussion, summit participants will split into small groups to join in two discussion forums.

The sessions are slated to focus on academic processes and the habits of work, as well as on subject-matter centered topics including English and language arts, mathematics and science.

The final activity will bring attendees together to discuss the small group findings, pinpoint solid and measurable goals, and draft a strategy for moving forward.

“This is not something that we want to be an isolated event,” Crawford said Tuesday. “We’ll be asking everyone to find ways to continue the dialogue as well as to take specific steps towards meeting our shared challenges.”

The Aroostook County Educational Summit will begin with registration at 8:30 a.m. in the Edmunds Conference Center on the NMCC campus.