The Gorham Business-Schools Roundtable is moving ahead on its mission to expose students to jobs and careers that connect to what they are learning in their classrooms.
At its November meeting, the group heard from Community and Career Coordinator Eliza Kenigsberg, a full-time employee of Jobs for Maine Graduates (JMG), who works at Gorham High School (GHS) making career connections for students.
She spent the beginning of this school year surveying seniors about their career interests. While some are certain they have identified their future careers, others express interest in a variety of fields.
Photo credit Eliza KenigsbergGorham High School freshmen recently visited TechPlace, a technology incubator in Brunswick.
“Students are interested in a lot of different things,” Kenigsberg told the group. “They are open and curious.”
Students recently had an opportunity to explore some of those interests during visits to manufacturing sites, including Sterling Rope and Cuddledown. About half the freshman class (100 students) ventured out for this series of career-focused field experiences. The other half is scheduled for similar experiences in the spring.
The students visited a variety of manufacturers including a technology incubator, an electro-optical engineering company, a pillow manufacturer, and an aerospace builder.
Kenigsberg has created a menu of options for community members to engage in the district’s career exposure and exploration work. They range from a one-time visit to the high school to help students work on their employability skills through interviews to hosting students at their businesses for multi-day workplace learning experiences.
Business people at the meeting were enthusiastic about the future of this work. Great Falls Construction president Jon Smith summed it up this way: “What put us all where we are? You met an individual who took you down a path, you liked it and continued to explore it. It’s all about exposure to the possibilities.”
The roundtable was created in 2011 to foster relationships and communication between the schools and businesses in town, and find ways for students to have educational exposure to career opportunities. The group meets again this month.