WIN College & Career Academy Launches

VALDOSTA — The WIN College and Career Academy will open for its first semester on Monday, August 10, 2026. Its mission: to bridge the gap between high school and higher education in a unique and comprehensive way in South Georgia.

WINCCA CEO Jason Van Nus welcomes students to the opening day of classes.

WIN, or Workplace Innovation Network, is a program created by One Valdosta-Lowndes that offers collegiate-level education courses to high school students. While similar to dual enrollment, the difference lies in the layout, designed to maximize learning in a condensed time frame due to their “Further, Faster” model.

“In five months, [a student] will get a TCC, or a Technical Certificate of Competency,” Jason Van Nus, CEO of WIN Regional CCA, said. “…Most high schools say you have to have a pathway to graduate, and it takes 18 months to get a pathway. We can do that in one semester.”

Van Nus joined the program after learning what it was and what OVL was hoping to achieve. He has served in different school districts for over 20 years, eight of those years in Lowndes County through work-based learning and apprenticeship programs. 

“I’ve always wanted to be involved with a career academy,” Van Nus said. “I think that they’re a phenomenal model, and have even at points been approached about doing career academies in other people’s communities, but I want to stay in our community.”

Much of WIN’s model will use the tool set that students and teachers are already familiar with; YouScience, a software that has been used in the past to help students learn what they enjoy and are skilled at, will be one of these.

“It’s a career tool that gives you a strong, accurate and data-driven understanding of what students would be good at,” Van Nus said. “It’s one of my preferred tools to use.”

The model used for WIN is designed with efficiency and student readiness in mind, and students who may have come to Valdosta late – whether from moving from another city or military children with parents stationed in Moody Air Force Base – will be able to complete a pathway in a third of the time compared to other programs. This means a student who otherwise would struggle to reach their goals could have an easier time getting certified.

The program will start with three courses: phlebotomy, EMT training and hospitality. These are programs already hosted by Wiregrass Technical College, making them easier to implement quickly.

These are also three pathways that match the Governor’s Office career initiative “Top State For Talent” initiative. This initiative, started by Gov. Brian Kemp, is designed to bring jobs into the state by building on high-demand programs to fill shortages.

WIN also aims to prioritize the programs not already offered by schools in the area, and once WIN receives the necessary grants to do so, they will be able to bridge the gap between what students are looking for but colleges don’t have.

Fall 2026 will mark its first semester, but the Workforce Innovation Network College and Career Academy is already working towards its long-term goal of bringing high-demand job skills to South Georgia in a fraction of the time.