Associate professor, Guam Community College
Guam is not short on opportunity. Defense investment under the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act directs approximately $1.3 billion toward projects on Guam. Digital infrastructure is expanding through Google’s Pacific Connect Initiative and Citadel’s commercial internet exchange point. Advanced manufacturing is emerging with the Guam Advanced Material & Manufacturing Accelerators 3D-printing hub supporting U.S. Navy operations. Entrepreneurship is expanding through the Guam Economic Development Authority’s “Taking the LEAP Beyond Guam” initiative. The White House Maritime Action Plan is drawing renewed attention to Guam’s strategic position in regional logistics and maritime workforce development. The growth signals are clear. The real question is not whether opportunity is coming — it is whether Guam’s workforce development system is moving at the same speed. Guam’s economy is shifting toward a more technical, digital, and specialized future. Success will not be determined by investment alone, but by preparation. The island’s ability to translate opportunity into long-term prosperity depends on whether it intentionally prepares both its workforce and its educators for emerging industries.
Workforce development is economic infrastructure
In competitive regions, workforce development is not treated as a side initiative. It is the core economic infrastructure. Places such as Singapore built global competitiveness not through natural resources, but through disciplined investment in human capital — aligning education, industry, and government under one coordinated strategy. Career and technical education is central in that alignment.
Career and technical education refers to structured education and training programs — in high schools and community and technical colleges — that prepare students for specific industries such as healthcare, skilled trades, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, etc. These programs combine academic instruction with technical skills development and direct industry engagement. Modern CTE is not a fallback pathway. It is a deliberate workforce pipeline — connecting education with real job roles and linking learners directly with employers. When education aligns with workforce demand, businesses hire locally. When it does not, companies import talent. Too often, Guam sees the second outcome.
Preparing educators for emerging industries
One of the most overlooked components of workforce strategy is CTE educator preparation.
Students cannot be prepared for emerging industries if instructors themselves are not equipped to teach evolving technologies and workplace practices. Preparing CTE teachers to become 21st century educators is not separate from workforce development — it is central to it. Twenty-first century CTE educators must possess strong pedagogical skills and a deep understanding of the industries they serve. Additionally, they are fluent in:
- Industry standards and certification requirements
- Digital and AI-enabled tools
- Systems thinking and problem-solving
- Project-based workforce instruction
- Employer expectations for entry-level employees
Signs of progress
There are meaningful signs of forward movement. More than 2,000 public high school students — roughly 25% of Guam’s public high school population — are enrolled in career and technical education programs. Middle school career exploration courses are expanding the pipeline earlier than ever, supported by federal CTE funding. At Guam Community College, the bachelor of science in Career and Technical Education program strengthens the island’s CTE educator pipeline by preparing instructors who can translate industry standards into rigorous, workforce-aligned instruction.
Industry engagement is also improving. Over the past three years, the Guam Association for Career and Technical Education Summit has brought together industry leaders, policymakers, and educators for structured discussions on emerging industries and workforce readiness. Annual panel discussions have featured leaders in defense construction, manufacturing, cybersecurity, technology, maritime logistics, healthcare, and education. These conversations are helping build shared understanding between employers and educators — an essential step in workforce alignment. However, workforce development cannot rely on occasional collaboration. It must become systematic, institutionalized, and operational — with regular coordination between employers, education leaders, and policymakers with the aim of developing a cohesive strategy for skill development for Guam’s current and emerging industries.
The headwinds we cannot ignore
Despite encouraging progress, several structural challenges remain. Industry is moving faster than education and government.
Artificial intelligence, automation, and digital systems are reshaping work at unprecedented speed.
McKinsey & Co. estimates that up to 30% of current work activities globally could be automated by 2030. Routine roles will be affected first, but nearly every occupation will evolve. Education and government systems, by contrast, are designed for stability. Curriculum approval cycles, certification requirements, funding structures, and policy processes take time — often years. By the time programs are updated, industry and skill requirements may have already shifted.
Talent competition is real
High-demand fields such as cybersecurity, engineering technologies, and advanced manufacturing offer salaries that schools often cannot match. Recruiting industry-experienced professionals into teaching — and retaining them — is difficult. Guam’s challenge with outward migration compounds the problem. Without strong CTE educator pipelines, workforce pipelines stall. Preparing CTE teachers is not separate from workforce development — it is central to it.
Lack of longitudinal data limit strategic planning
Guam lacks a fully integrated longitudinal data system tracking students from K-12 through postsecondary education and into employment. A workforce data system functions like a business dashboard. It shows whether the talent pipeline is aligned with industry demand, where gaps are emerging, and whether education and workforce investments are producing economic returns. Without that visibility, workforce planning becomes reactive. With it, workforce strategy planning becomes predictive.
Perception gaps remain
Despite progress, CTE still carries outdated stereotypes. Many educators and families continue to view CTE as an option primarily for students who are not academically inclined or not college bound. That perception no longer reflects economic reality. Today’s technical careers demand advanced problem-solving, digital fluency, AI literacy, and continuous adaptation. These are not low-skill roles; they are increasingly complex, technology-driven professions that sit at the center of modern industry. Reframing CTE requires visible validation from the business community. When employers publicly articulate the value of technical expertise — and signal that these roles are critical to economic competitiveness — perception shifts. And when perception shifts, talent follows.
A strategic advantage — if we use it
Guam’s size is often viewed as a limitation. It can also be a strategic advantage. As a close-knit community, Guam has the ability to align education, industry and government more intentionally and efficiently than larger, more fragmented regions. Collaboration can occur more directly, and decisions can be implemented more quickly when key stakeholders work toward shared goals. But alignment does not happen automatically. It must be deliberate and sustained through a structured mechanism where policymakers, employers and educators meet regularly around measurable outcomes supported by workforce data. Workforce development must be treated as a central economic strategy — not a secondary initiative. Economic development plans without workforce execution plans remain incomplete.
The bottom line
Opportunity does not automatically translate into prosperity. Preparation does. If Guam builds an agile workforce system — one that prepares CTE educators and students, aligns curriculum to real job roles, and tracks outcomes from classroom to employment — economic growth will strengthen local families, expand local businesses, and reduce brain drain. If we fail to prepare, opportunity will still arrive. But the jobs may not go to our people. The next phase of Guam’s economy will not be shaped only in boardrooms or government offices. It will be shaped in classrooms. Workforce strategy begins with high-quality career and technical education. And high-quality CTE begins with well-prepared CTE teachers. mbj
— Maravic “Vicky” Shrage is an associate professor at Guam Community College and holds a master’s in CTE. She is a doctoral student in Workforce & Organizational Development with an emphasis in CTE at Old Dominion University in Virginia. She can be reached at vickyshrage@yahoo.com
