Technology Advantage: Bringing Industry into the Classroom via Zoom for Interviews
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Longview hosted Virtual Industry interviews on Wednesday, March 10th with students in Lizzie Thompson’s English classes in partnership with Jeffco Career Links. Students practiced their interviewing skills while connecting with industry in the community. A new experience for the students and teacher, the event created a lasting impression for all. One student, Maddie, interviewed with Lakewood Mayor Adam Paul, said she “liked having the opportunity to tell someone why I have the aspirations that I do, and why I care about this career. It was extremely helpful and encouraging to have his feedback.”
Other students interviewed with Foothills Park and Recreation District, Human Resources Assistant, Mary Clouse. Mary provided Longview students an authentic experience in today’s virtual interview process. Mary states “wanted to participate again for a number of reasons. First, I was a student who could have greatly benefited from this process. I was a student who had to do credit recovery and have a plan for graduation. I also had to pay for college myself and had to get a job that helped me do so. The other reason I like helping with this process is I work in Human Resources for Foothills Park and Rec and we hire HS students. This keeps me in tune with young job seekers and gives me an opportunity to practice what questions I want to ask.”
The students prepared resumes to share during their interviews. Industry was impressed with their preparation. Jason Randals with Alcorn Construction said students “were well prepared and able to answer the questions quickly“.
English Teacher Ms. Thompson enjoyed “seeing students have the opportunity to interact with professionals outside of the classroom. We’d worked all quarter on the writing and skills that would be useful to them professionally, but it really felt different to them to talk to folks actually in the industry. They were able to see how the classroom skills actually translated into the rest of their lives. A number of the students said that they had gotten specific advice that would help them in their futures.” This was very true for one student, Kalia, who plans to use the feedback for future interviews and thought “it was nice to talk to professionals and have them give me tips on how I could do better in an interview or some things that I could change. I would recommend this to anyone. I think it helped me a lot.”
Thank you to the following industry and community partners:
- City of Lakewood Mayor Adam Paul
- Nick Jennings with Encore Electric
- Jason Randels with Alcorn Construction
- Ted Windchester with ELight Electric
- Mary Clouse with Foothills Park and Rec
- Sara Killian, Registered Nurse with with Jeffco Public Schools