Yesterday, local business owners and community leaders gathered at the annual business advisory council meeting to collaborate with the College and Career Readiness Center (CCR) on ways to ensure students get the most out of their CCR experience.
This meeting helps to build lasting relationships with leaders and businesses throughout Harrison County and gives our CCR program the opportunity to receive feedback directly from industry leaders. It also gives the corporation the chance to update the community on pathway offerings, diploma requirements, and what they are teaching students to make them excellent employees. Throughout the meeting, attendees engaged in several topics of discussion with our CCR Manager, Manda Graf, and South Harrison’s Director of Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment for Secondary Education, Allison Schalk.
Key takeaways included how CCR students have benefited from their internships with participating business partners in the way of developing soft skills, writing a strong resume and establishing a good first impression. Alongside this, many community leaders also highlighted the value of extracurricular activities and behavior both in and outside the workplace.
Several attendees explained that having our students as interns gave their employees a “morale boost” by watching students grow and learn. They also mentioned many student interns eventually became employees and have continued to contribute to the overall success of the business long after their time interning during high school.
Additional highlights from the meeting include:
Discussing the Government Work Ethic certification. Students earn this certificate once they have exemplified soft skills such as good communication, teamwork, problem solving, positive attitude, adaptability, and dependability.
Learning what employers expect from an applicant right out of high school - extracurricular activities, good first impression, good grades, certifications, dual credits, social media etiquette, etc.
Emphasizing to students that investing in their education means investing in their future.
Collaborating on ways to further provide students with a meaningful internship experience.
Opportunities like the business advisory meeting is an example of what can happen when our community comes together with one common goal - setting students up for success. South Harrison thanks our local businesses for their partnership and contributions to the education of our students! To learn more about the College and Career Readiness program at South Harrison, click here.