Preparing students for today’s marketplace involves more than academics. Employers desire employees who understand workplace culture and already have professional skills. Bridging classroom instruction with personalized, authentic workplace experiences led Mason City Schools to launch its innovative Experiential Learning program.
Debbie Gentene, creator and coordinator of Mason’s program, now in its fifth year, describes the mission of experiential learning.
“It is our goal to provide opportunities for students to partner with area businesses to personalize and enhance their academic experience," Debbie says. “Students develop workplace skills, cultivate a civic mindset and explore career options through direct experience and focused reflection outside of the traditional academic setting.”
All students, regardless of their academic level or GPA, are encouraged to be involved in part of the program. During the 2018-19 school year, local businesses provided 109 internships. Additionally, 2,929 students participated in other events including a volunteer recruiting fair, job shadowing, site visits and leadership symposiums led by local business leaders. Multiple lunch-and-learn opportunities called the M-Power Hour included panels of business professionals interacting with students on a variety of topics from resume writing to engineering careers.
“It is our goal to provide opportunities for students to partner with area businesses to personalize and enhance their academic experience.” –Debbie Gentene
Real World Experience
While a student at Mason, Hunter Taylor attended an M-Power Hour and learned about supply chain management careers from Cintas Corporation employees. The meeting sparked Hunter’s interest, and he completed a 60-hour paid internship with the company. Now, having finished his first year of college studying the field of supply chain management, he is convinced experiential learning made a difference.
“Pairing what you learn in the classroom with the real world gives you much more leverage. It also helped me pick my career field,” he says.
Former student Alyssa Brooks thought the creative and strategic aspects of marketing might interest her as a career path. She selected an internship with marketing company CMO Access.
For Alyssa, experiential learning “furthers your professional and general life skills by being involved in an actual company. You get out of the classroom and experience what a career in a certain field would be like,” she says.
The experience has come full-circle, as Alyssa has hired four Mason students in her own marketing company.
Businesses Give and Get Back
Businesses giving back to their communities are essential for this successful partnership. There are numerous ways for companies of many types and sizes to be involved. Giving back is the reason Creative Contracting, Inc. owner Rick Boyle and Mark Streicher of C3 Architecture and Design worked with students at Mason Intermediate to design a play area. Topics included site selection, orientation, sustainability and drawing to scale.
Local manufacturing company Cincinnati Fan recruited two interns at Mason High School’s Reverse Internship Fair. Human resources manager Linda McGohon sees internships as both a talent pipeline for their growing company and an opportunity for students to add value by being involved in the company’s actual processes.
Summing up the experience of these school and business partnerships, Elizabeth Parish, marketing director at Various Views Research, says: “We give the students quite a bit of autonomy, but also direction to teach them a few things. They are wonderful students, brilliant and hardworking. It’s such a win-win.”
If interested in participating, contact Debbie Gentene, Experiential Learning coordinator for Mason City Schools, at gentened@masonohioschools.com or 513.398.5025.