Gov. Pat McCrory proclaimed March 2-6, 2015 Students@Work Week. Students@Work is a job-shadowing initiative that connects schools and businesses, giving students the opportunity to meet a variety of professionals and get an idea of what kind of careers may be options for them in the future. Students@Work Week is made possible through a strong partnership between the North Carolina Business Committee for Education (NCBCE) and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
“This is the 5th year NCBCE has sponsored Students@Work. This project is a great example of putting education in context for our students – creating the connection between their classroom learning and the real-world context of employment in their communities.”
– Sue Breckenridge, Executive Director, NCBCE
“The Students@Work initiative focuses its efforts on middle school students because middle school is a crucial time for dropout prevention. We need our middle school students to be exposed to as many career possibilities as they can be at this point in their lives,” Gov. Pat McCrory said.
This year, more than 100 businesses participated in Students@Work Week and many of them had great things to say about the experience. Here are some highlights:
“It was a great group of engaged, bright, and well-mannered students. Their questions and comments were all on point. The day ended leaving our employees with a sense of gratitude that they were able to (hopefully) inspire these young folk.”
– MCNC
MCNC, a nonprofit that builds, owns, and operates broadband infrastructure across North Carolina, hosted students from Brogden Middle School in Durham.
“The students were very engaged and came with many thoughtful questions. It was apparent from their questions and comments throughout the day that they were paying attention and enjoying the experience.”
– MCNC
The students had the opportunity to tour the MCNC data center and got hands-on experience in the lab. See more photos from MCNC here.
Students in Wilmington learned about chiropractic practices at Active Care Chiropractic.
At Biogen, a biotechnology company in Durham, middle schoolers learned about pharmaceuticals in the lab.
Lee County students toured the Caterpillar facilities in Sanford.
Middle schoolers learned about computer hardware at Lenovo in Morrisville.
Here are some of the great things other businesses had to say about the students who participated:
“The group of students was engaged and asked many questions.”
– W.R. Rayson
“The student interest was very good and they were engaged in learning how to use a stethoscope & listening to heart and lung sounds on themselves and the manikin.”
– UNCW Simulation Lab, College of Health & Human Services, UNCW School of Nursing
“The students were very well behaved and asked a lot of questions. I believe that the coordinator on their end did an excellent job of preparing the students for today. I was impressed.”
– SteelFab
Did you participate in Students@Work Week? We’d love to hear your experiences.
