Business Leaders, Teachers Meet To Help Students

LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Clint Copeland with McKee Foods in Gentry speaks during a one-day conference recently at Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative in Farmington. Educators and business leaders came together to talk about preparing students for future careers. Others on this panel were Kathy Fulks, executive director of Arkansas Construction Education Foundation in Little Rock and Susan Grimes, human resources manager with Cobb-Vantress Inc., of Siloam Springs.
LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Clint Copeland with McKee Foods in Gentry speaks during a one-day conference recently at Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative in Farmington. Educators and business leaders came together to talk about preparing students for future careers. Others on this panel were Kathy Fulks, executive director of Arkansas Construction Education Foundation in Little Rock and Susan Grimes, human resources manager with Cobb-Vantress Inc., of Siloam Springs.

FARMINGTON -- Educators and business and industry leaders recently came together to discuss ways to help students prepare for future careers.

This is the second year Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative in Farmington has sponsored a conference to bring the two together. The cooperative serves 17 school districts in northwest Arkansas.

"It's really a working day to provide opportunities for our students," said Cheryl Pickering, career and technical education coordinator for the Coop.

More than 50 representatives from business and industry participated in the Regional Industry Partnership of Northwest Arkansas on March 18. Businesses included Walmart, J.B. Hunt, Cobb Vantress Inc., and McKee Foods. About 160 people in all attended the meetings.

In the morning, business and industry leaders talked to teachers about skills required to fill their employee needs. In the afternoon, educators collaborated on what they learned and brainstormed on how schools could help students acquire the skills needed for future careers.

Pamela House, Farmington High School consumer sciences teacher, said the one-day conference was very informative.

"It provided very good networking with northwest Arkansas businesses and other schools," House said.

Business and industry representatives indicated they are looking for employees who have a positive attitude and are a team player, House said.

One employer told teachers: "I would take a dependable 'D' student any day over an undependable 'A' student."

House pointed out that school districts have to realize not all students are geared to go to a four-year college. Students with other skills are needed in the workforce, she said.

Examples include truck drivers and welders.

"But students have to have marketable skills, whether it's two months to be a CNA (certified nursing student) or six years of education," House said.

One of the ideas the teachers came up with in House's afternoon panel was a job fair sponsored by the Education Service Cooperative. House said a job fair would help students in finding a job. Many times, she said, students are not approaching companies seeking jobs because they do not know where to start.

She said the conference re-emphasized to her that Farmington School District is on track with its plan to use the Career Academy model at the high school. Students will be placed into career academies based on their interest and learning styles.

"Career academies will offer opportunities in high school for students to research and see if it's the type career they want," House said.

Tracy Laird, who teaches business and marketing at Prairie Grove High School, said it helped to hear directly from industry people what they want and what they are observing from students coming out of high school.

"We need our kids to be ready," Laird said.

Some of the suggestions she heard were that students need soft skills, such as communication, teamwork and problem solving skills. They need to be able to look a person in the eye and shake hands.

One idea out of her group was an industry tour so teachers could see the different jobs available in northwest Arkansas. Another idea was to bring students in to learn from business and industry leaders.

"They get tired of listening to us," Laird said.

Others who spoke at the meeting were Kim Davis with Northwest Arkansas Council and Charles Cudney, director of the Education Service Cooperative.

General News on 04/15/2015