‘Relevance’ in education

School, business leaders coordinate to determine skills students need in real world

By Patrick Luce
Posted 8/31/16

A handful of Mt. Hope High School students got the opportunity to gain real-world experience last year through an internship program that partnered the school district with local companies .

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


‘Relevance’ in education

School, business leaders coordinate to determine skills students need in real world

Posted

A handful of Mt. Hope High School students got the opportunity to gain real-world experience last year through an internship program that partnered the school district with local companies.

This year, the school district is looking to expand the valuable program, and it is looking to the business community for help. Aiming to educate the next business leaders of the community, the school district is partnering with companies in the region to learn what skills business leaders believe are most important for students leaving the classroom and entering the workforce. 

Superintendent Mario Andrade and the Bristol Economic Development Commission hosted a joint forum at the Quinta-Gamelin Community Center last week, bringing together business, community and school leaders to discuss “the most effective ways to bridge the gap between education and workforce preparation.”

“This is an investment in the future, but it’s also an investment in the now.” - Superintendent Mario Andrade

“What do we want kids to know and be able to do,” Dr. Andrade asked the assembled group to kick off the forum last week. “We need to start defining what excellence is. What does success look like? Few topics are more important than education — developing these skills for our young people.”

Companies like Mosaico, Tri-Mack Plastics and the Composites Alliance, among others, joined EDC representatives, local politicians, school leaders and even Army recruitment officers to help boil down the most essential skills students need to achieve before they graduate into the working world. 

The participants were divided into groups and presented with a series of questions to discuss, including how internships benefit students, how they benefit businesses and the community; how can businesses and community organizations partner with schools; and what skills are necessary for success.

The participants filled a posterboard with key skills students need, including the expected reading, writing, and math, and the equally important tech skills that are critical in an increasingly technological world. The group also frequently mentioned the most basic life skills that may seem simple and obvious to some, but are often lost on the younger generation, they said.

“They younger people don’t know how to fill out a timecard, don’t know to show up, don’t know enough to turn off their cell phones,” said a representative of the Composites Alliance who asked not to be identified. “You need to have basic capabilities.”

Communication and engaging in the workplace are other skills that the younger generation needs to have a better grasp on. Students who have grown up with technology have had less need and opportunity for direct face-to-face communication with peers. “Students can communicate in school, but don’t always know how outside the classroom,” Assistant Superintendent Diane Sanna said.

Students can be taught the basic skills in the classroom, but can’t be taught how to apply those skills to the workplace until they’re actually in the real world. An internship program, like the one the local school district established last year, is the best way to show students what they really need to know and, equally importantly, why they need to know it, the business leaders decided.

“Relevance is key,” Dr. Andrade said, noting he heard the same from the seven students who participated in the internship program last year. “They said it was the first time they felt relevance in their education. It’s that application process of the skills.”

And it’s not just a benefit to the students. Each generation has its own skill-set that has been ingrained in them naturally through life. For example, students in high school now have never known a time without the Internet and technological communication devices. They have a more natural understanding of how technology works, which they bring with them when interning.

“The younger generation is actually teaching the older guys new skills,” said Rep. Ken Marshall, who owns plumbing and pipefitting company, and praised the mutual benefit the internship program can have for students and companies. “This would be an excellent model for there whole state.”

The program can benefit the community as a whole, the participants suggested, helping Bristol and Warren retain talent rather than lose it to other towns and states; improving local companies, which will lead to more jobs and greater economic development; and developing better citizens and thinkers for the town, which will instill more pride in the community.

For those reasons and more, Dr. Andrade said he wants to expand the internship program, slated to resume in the spring. He is hoping to include as many as 25 companies to host interns, who can enhance their own education while making valuable contributions to the company. 

Last year saw several successes, the superintendent said. One student who had extensive software and computer skills re-evaluated Internet sales at Tri-Mack Plastics, and increased the company’s online sales by 400 percent. Another student analyzed production data at Jade Plastics, finding a way to cut production time by seven seconds per piece, which saved the company $10,000 over the course of the internship, Dr. Andrade said.

“This is the community’s initiative. If this is going to be sustainable, we need to collaborate,” Dr. Andrade said. “This is an investment in the future, but it’s also an investment in the now.”

The internship is scheduled to resume in the spring, and the school district is working on securing partnerships with all manner of companies in the region. If you are a business owner and would like to participate, contact the superintendent’s office at 401-253-4000.

Mt. Hope High School, Bristol Warren Regional School District, Bristol Economic Development Corporation, internships

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.