BMW Won South Carolina's 2024 Workforce Champion Award -- Its Rising Scholars Program Explains Why

Most employer recognition programs reward companies for writing checks to workforce development organizations. South Carolina's Workforce Champion Award, presented annually by Governor McMaster and the Department of Employment and Workforce, takes a different angle -- it rewards companies for building systems that actually move students from classroom to employed. BMW Manufacturing received the 2024 award in September for a portfolio of programs that starts with middle schoolers on Robotics Days and ends with new hires entering the plant floor.

The piece of BMW's workforce development work most directly relevant to CTE students is the Rising Scholars Program. High school seniors participate in part-time paid employment at the Spartanburg plant while completing high school coursework and Career and Technical Education Center instruction. Upon finishing, participants earn U.S. Department of Labor certification and become eligible for the full Scholars Program -- a two-year apprenticeship available to manufacturing degree holders from Greenville Technical College, Spartanburg Community College, and Tri-County Technical College. BMW's Scholars Program has students attending those colleges full-time while working part-time at the plant, building experience and income simultaneously.

The employment scale behind this pipeline makes the investment rational. BMW's Spartanburg plant employs more than 11,000 workers and has assembled over 6.5 million vehicles in South Carolina. The company's broader supply chain requirements mean that BMW's talent decisions ripple through dozens of Upstate SC manufacturers and suppliers, all of whom face the same skilled workforce gap. The 2024-25 Executive Budget recommended $50 million to create or expand ReadySC EV training institutes at technical college campuses specifically to prepare workers for South Carolina's automotive manufacturers -- BMW, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz Vans, and Scout Motors collectively will need tens of thousands of trained workers over the coming years.

For students in South Carolina's Automotive Technology pathway, the BMW programs describe a concrete post-graduation arc. Pathway graduates emerge with ASE Entry-Level Certification and hands-on experience in engine systems, chassis, electrical diagnostics, and advanced driver assistance technology. Automotive service technicians in South Carolina earn a median of $35,540, with automotive master technicians reaching $45,950. But manufacturing-side roles at plants like BMW -- production technicians, quality systems positions, mechatronics roles -- are structured differently than dealer service bays, often offering higher base compensation, shift premiums, and structured advancement. Automotive Technology students who also take electives in mechatronics or electrical systems are better positioned for those manufacturing track openings than peers with only service-side training. The Rising Scholars Program's explicit design as a bridge between high school CTE and manufacturing employment makes it a natural extension of what South Carolina's automotive pathway prepares students to pursue.