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"My biggest takeaway from the Show-Me Careers experience is a commonality in all the businesses we toured,” said Schultejans. “They all think outside the box when it comes to helping their employees extend and further their careers. They pay for schooling, they encourage moving around within their business, and they all emphasize the need for soft skills. Also, the people we talked to had an 'outside the box' career path; it was never linear. So, what that tells me, is that we as teachers need to also think outside the box, focus on soft skills in the classroom, and encourage students who may not be on that linear career path. We need to give them whatever support they need."
“Many of our students need an alternate path after high school,” said Withers. “Not everyone wants to or is able to go to college. With the businesses we visited, many of them have opportunities available to enter the workforce without attending college. They can attend Ranken or St. Louis Community College to earn certificates or Associate's degrees and then find trade and other positions making very good money without taking on many thousands of dollars of debt. Some options even include joining the workforce right after high school, as well. We just need to have students become aware of these opportunities.”
Through these externship experiences, education professionals gain a more robust understanding of the technical skills, behaviors and mindsets that students need in order to be successful in today’s professional environments.
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