ADRIAN, MI – November 8, 2022 – “In my 30 years in this industry, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Director of Development at Lenawee Now Randy Yagiela said of Adrian Public Schools’ (APS) Superintendent Nate Parker’s “bold” move to request a partnership with the economic development organization.
“I’ve never had a school superintendent open his doors to us like this,” Yagiela commented. “(Parker) clearly thinks outside the box.”
Parker and his team met with Lenawee Now and Align Lenawee Talent Consortium (the talent development arm of Lenawee Now) during the summer to ask the Align team to start an unprecedented intervention program to benefit the students at APS.
“It’s no secret that the need for talent is great in the business community,” Parker said. “We want to give our students the most advantages possible when they graduate to make their mark on the world.”
Align’s Career Education Navigator, Kelly McNicol, will be working in Adrian’s schools to bring in people from the business community to speak with students about career options, as well as speaking to students and parents about the students’ career affinity results.
“The schools use Xello, which is a software program that will tell students what their best career options are based on how they answered the questions,” McNicol said. “We will be working with the students and their parents to take that affinity data to the next level and provide further supports around their preferred job fields and provide targeted career explorations.”
Meetings with parents will start happening after the first of the year, once the new Xello data is available and it will begin with 12th-grade students and move to underclassmen.
“Having these conversations with parents is critical,” Parker confirmed. “If parents are aware of their child’s strengths and aptitudes, they are better able to support them in reaching their goals. Likewise, helping raise awareness for students and parents regarding the avenues and resources that exist to support career pathways is incredibly important. This awareness and aligning students’ interests to academic and career goals is a foundational part of our ASPIRE initiative, and we are very grateful for Align’s leadership in this area and their willingness to partner with us.”
ASPIRE, Adrian Schools Project Inspire, Resiliency and Excellence, is Parker’s plan for the district to ensure students understand the importance of education in their lives.
Align is creating interventions for APS, down to the 6th grade, where students will be writing back and forth with business pen pals in the job field the students are interested to gain some career exposure. Other opportunities include school-business partnerships to sponsor student skill development so they are better prepared for the workforce upon graduation.
Other programs include a career fair for middle schoolers, bringing business presenters into the Senior Seminar classes and a You Be The Chemist Challenge, a nationwide STEM-based competition, sponsored by Lenawee Now’s Chemical Collaborative, including Anderson Development, Wacker, Evonik and W2 Fuels.
“This is where Align can really help us,” Parker said. “They have access to the business community and that’s where we (the school system) need to be more closely entwined so our students are better prepared for the workplace.”
Align also will be hosting a Career Connections event on March 22, 2023, at Siena Heights for graduating seniors, college students and unemployed and underemployed county residents. The event will feature a job fair, a mini-conference for students and a campus tour. Additionally, a preconference with parents will be held so they can help their child prepare for the event.
“Students from across the county are invited to attend Career Connections,” McNicol said. “I will be working with any student who wants to prepare a resume and do some interview practice in anticipation of that event.”
Yagiela said he hopes the results of the pilot program with APS will prove the value of Align’s assistance in the schools and that other superintendents will want similar partnerships. This year being the start of Align’s collaboration with APS, the intervention is starting small and will hopefully grow in the coming years.
“I’m open to learning more about what they can offer to our students,” Parker said. “If we start to see more successes and business engagement in the schools, this program will be worth the effort.”
Align also has worked with industry experts to design career-exposure curriculum to middle school students in the areas of Accounting, Early Childhood Education, Digital Marketing, Cybersecurity, Project Management, Teaching, Entrepreneurship, IT/Data Management, Web Development and Healthcare. They are currently seeking experts in these fields who are interested in teaching these curricula in the classroom.
To learn more about Kelly McNicol and her work with schools and students, or to volunteer to teach career exposure curriculum in the schools, please contact her at kelly@lenaweenow.org.