Businesses teach potential future employees

The Students Go To Work program, a partnership of Springfield Public Schools and the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, has been pairing businesses with third-grade classes for 17 years.

The Groundhog Job Shadow program, put together by Junior Achievement – Ozarks District, the Springfield Area Human Resources Association and the chamber, is aimed at area high school students.

Kristen Westerman, the chamber’s manager of work force and business development, said that while the two programs may target different age groups, the goals are very similar.

“With the third-graders, a lot of them don’t have as much knowledge of what’s out there, so the goal is to get them to a place of business and see what’s going on,” Westerman said. “With the high schoolers, we’re looking at students who will be graduating really soon, and we want them to have a grasp on what’s out there and what they need to do to get there.”

Starting early

Students Go To Work, running from late February through early May, pairs third-grade classes with companies that volunteer their time and facilities.

Teresa Bledsoe, grant writer in the school district’s community development office, said the program is based on major instructional goals in the third-grade curriculum, such as basic economics and business.

“The purpose in general is to expose students at a young age to potential careers that can inspire and motivate them to pursue an education, to know what skills are required and what education is needed to get those jobs,” Bledsoe said. “They also learn about the importance of attendance and get a tangible idea of what working is all about and what being employed means.”

Bledsoe said there are about 95 third-grade classes in the district – more than 2,000 students – and while the decision to take part in the program is up to the classroom teacher, most will participate.

Businesses that participate are asked to pay for the cost of transporting students to and from school and to provide lunch, along with some kind of small gift.

“We produce a curriculum guide for the teachers and the businesses to plan their activities, but there’s really not much

out-of-pocket expense for the school,” Bledsoe said. “Transportation is the big expense.”

Seventeen businesses are signed on for the program as of Dec. 6.

Springfield-based manufacturer American Dehydrated Foods has been participating in the program for more than a decade.

Dennise Dunaway, executive assistant to ADF President Kurt Hellweg, said that the kids who visit ADF are split into five groups and rotate through the company’s customer service, production, information technology, human resources, and research and development departments.

“We have one of our human resource employees explain the best way to do an interview, and the kids love the research and development,” Dunaway said. “Our researchers do experiments in the kitchens – putting an egg in a bottle, showing them what happens on our production lines. It all relates to our products, but it’s also about relating to other things in their daily lives.”

Flintco Construction participated for the first time last school year with the kids from Weller Elementary, where the company was working on the school’s renovation.

“The third-graders were learning about two-dimensional shapes and measuring in class, so we rotated the three classes through a field trip outside at the school construction site and some inside classes about blueprint reading and related topics,” Project Manager Laurie Luna said. “Not only did they feel like they were participating in the construction, but it was fun for us because we saw how it affected them.”

Job shadows

Groundhog Job Shadow Day, meanwhile, is aimed at high school students preparing to make career decisions.

Tina Moore, chairwoman of the work force readiness committee for the Springfield Area Human Resources Association, said the program is the local version of a program Junior Achievement runs nationally each year. The program also is being encouraged by the national Society for Human Resource Management.

The local program began on a small scale last year, with one group of about 10 students from Central High. Westerman at the chamber said the plan is to expand the program to all city high schools beginning Feb. 2 and running through spring.

“We’ve been sending information to businesses, asking them if they’re interested in participating,” she said. “And on the other side, if the teachers feel that it’s something they want to participate in, it’s something they can offer to their students.”

Participating students will provide their own transportation to the businesses at which they’re shadowing.

Want to participate?

Registration for both programs is still open.

Students Go To Work: Businesses interested in hosting a class of third graders should call Lisa Langley with Springfield Public Schools at (417) 523-0021. Applications are due by Dec. 17.

Groundhog Job Shadow Day: Businesses that would like to allow high school students to job shadow can call Tina Moore with the Springfield Area Human Resources Association at (417) 873-7284. Applications are due by Dec. 21.