June 27, 2023 - Three of Manassas City Public Schools’ business partners were recognized during the School Board of the City of Manassas meeting on Tuesday, June 27. The board unanimously voted to name “Virginia Tire & Auto, Professionals By Design, and Peden Accounting Services to the 2023 Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) Business Honor Roll, showing appreciation for their ongoing support of this community’s public schools” at a previous meeting.

Each year, the VSBA invites school divisions to pass a resolution recognizing up to three businesses for the Business Honor Roll. This recognition program enables local school divisions to express gratitude towards companies that support schools and the community. Businesses offer valuable contributions to schools in various ways, such as providing financial or in-kind aid, donating to scholarship programs, supporting extracurricular activities, offering internships, volunteering, and sponsoring field trips.

During the Superintendent Announcements and Spotlights, Eric Godwin, the Work-based Learning Specialist for MCPS, presented the local recipients for this year’s honor roll.

Julie Holmes is the Co-CEO of Virginia Tire and Auto, which sponsored a Women in Trades Lunch and Learn series for the 2022-2023 school year. The series allowed female students to learn from industry professionals in underrepresented fields. The Automotive Technology program at Osbourn also had the chance to visit Virginia Tire and Auto's training facility in Tysons Corner thanks to their sponsorship. The business has been a valuable partner at various Career and Technical Education (CTE) events and has plans to offer apprenticeships for students starting this fall.

The Manassas City Public Schools Education Foundation benefits from the involvement of Chris Peden, who runs Peden Accounting Services. Peden has been imparting knowledge on entrepreneurship and business practices to students at Osbourn. He takes part in the Career Connections program and extends his support to students who are keen on pursuing a career in accounting. Furthermore, Peden attends job fairs and other CTE events to provide assistance to students.

CEO and founder of HireGround Inc and Professionals By Design, Jinnae Monroe, has aided students by offering entrepreneurship tips and teaching workplace readiness skills. She also serves on the CTE advisory committee for MCPS and the MCPS Education Foundation board. Monroe has partnered with the school to provide Nursing and EMT students with scrubs, sponsored an entrepreneurship scholarship, and even offered a spot in her “Starting your own Business” course this summer to a deserving student.

“Your work has aided this community in focusing on the goal of providing the best public schools we can for every child who attends them,” Godwin said.

You can view a complete list of the 2023 Business Honor Roll recipients at https://www.vsba.org/resources/recognition/business-honor-roll/.