initial mental objection. I felt that high school was too early to start bottlenecking young adults into a career path.
However, I realized that something needed to be done differently and opened my mind to the concept.
I zeroed in on monitoring the Academy of Information Technology at
Carencro High School. Along with several other technology advocates, I
participated on an advisory board for the program which toured the
campus and received frequent program updates.
Last summer, The Schumacher Group opted to participate in the
academy's intern program. This gave me a first-hand look at the
school's impact. After interviewing several candidates, we settled on a
young man named Ben who seemed to be a good match with our support
services team.
This program brought a fresh face and fresh ideas into our Lafayette office.
Our
corporate trainer received a first-hand look at how high school
students are using iPods for learning - a trend that is about to
overtake corporate America. Podcasting and the use of video blogs are
part of Ben's daily lifestyle for self-paced learning.
Personally,
I realized the need to explore how younger generations are
communicating with wikis, blogs, Google documents and social networking
sites. We are exploring if these services can be incorporated into our
IT strategy without jeopardizing compliance and productivity.
After
the six-week internship, we transitioned Ben from an intern into a
part-time employee. Recently, I learned that this has influenced his
decision on choosing UL over other colleges. For me, this is but one
small success among many which probably exist.
The AOIT program
has helped The Schumacher Group grow and learn, while our economic
foundation has help slow the brain drain from Lafayette parish. When
approached by any of these academies, I strongly recommend businesses
take the opportunity to develop an internship program which puts these
students in productive job roles.
In closing, I encourage the
LPSS to continue to strengthen these academies and explore investments
in technology, which will enable more students to remotely participate
(i.e. virtual classrooms, video conferencing, etc).
By investing
in technology to enhance the educational experience, the LPSS has yet
another opportunity to raise the bar in the educational process.
