CPS prepares students for work with exploration courses, outings with business partners
The Columbia Board of Education focused Monday on some district efforts to prepare students for future careers.
Calling it an "elusive creature," Randy Gooch, chief operating officer for Columbia Public Schools, said the momentum of the district's career preparation efforts stalled during the pandemic but is back on track.
High school students on special education plans in ninth and 10th grades access work exploration courses, said Katie Siegel, district transition coordinator. In grades 10 and 11, they can participate in work blocks and community outings — volunteer opportunities at partner businesses. They can participate in paid work programs and internships.
There are 167 students enrolled in the programs and more than 40 businesses partner with CPS for student employment exploration, she said.
"My job becomes easier because we live in such a giving community," Siegel said.
The school board on Monday approved agreements with The Wardrobe and Shakespeare's Pizza to take part in the program. The University of Missouri and Columbia College are other partners.
The students also have school-based enterprises, including making and selling dog treats, a coffee shop and fruit smoothies, Siegel said. After taking food-handler training, some student work in elementary school lunch rooms.
Jeff Mielke, principal of Oakland Middle School, for the past two summers has participated in the Show-Me Careers Educator Experience. Developed by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, the program takes teachers and principals to local businesses to learn about them and tour them.
He has translated that into workforce exposure for his students, with six businesses engaging with them six times a year, he said.
He told the board about a student who didn't like school, but was excited about the prospect of someday working for MU Health Care.
The Columbia Area Career Center has 80 courses in three locations, with 2,400 students, said Brandon Russell, CPS director of career and technical education.
"Fifty percent of our students are going directly into the workforce" after graduation, Russell said.
"You can see that our student are thriving and wanting to take experiential-focused courses," Russell said.
Stacy Elsbury, CPS business and industry management coordinator, connects students with work-based learning experiences on-site with employers.
"The idea is to give students resumé-worthy experiences" they can take to employers, Gooch said.
School Board member Blake Wiloughby was impressed.
"This is phenomenal, right?" Wiloughby said. "What you all shared with us is amazing."
Student voices
Recent graduates Braeden McCollum and Charles Beard talked about their experiences in Tulsa in May with an event developed by Team Harmony Institute. It included a celebratory rally of unity and Greenwood Rising, exploring Tulsa's historic Greenwood District, destroyed by racist white people in 1921.
McCollum said he had been unaware of Greenwood and what happened there until the visit, noting that the massacre had been hidden and underplayed for most of the past 100 years.
Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on X at @rmckinney9.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: More than 40 Columbia employers partner with CPS on career preparation
