As the Career Exploration Coordinator at Sanford High School (SHS) and Sanford Regional Technical Center (SRTC), Katie Schindler helps students prepare for their post-high school pursuits.
"I'm really passionate about helping people create their futures," Schindler said. "That drives me, to watch students thrive and see their confidence grow."
Schindler coordinates Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO's) for students. ELO's at SHS and SRTC provide students with the opportunity to have learning experiences at a business or community organization or with community experts in particular fields.
"The ELO program is very important for some of our students who learn in different ways," SRTC Director Matt Petermann said. "They can utilize resources around them to learn about and reflect on a subject in a non-traditional way.”
Students work with professionals in our community who become "mentors" to them in their areas of expertise. The experiences can be short-term, such as a job shadow, community interview, or a guest speaker visit, or long-term, such as a semester or year-long study.
"ELO's expand our academic programming in countless ways because they cater to the interests and post-secondary goals of our students," Sanford High School Principal Amanda Doyle said. "We are so fortunate to have willing community partners, talented teachers, and a creative Career Exploration Coordinator to support these unique learning experiences for our students."
The program has been very successful at SHS and SRTC. Fifty students were in the program last year, according to Schindler.
Part of Schindler's responsibilities include setting up internships with the students and getting the required paperwork taken care of. Students don't typically start their internships until their senior year or second year if it is a two-year program. When they begin their internship, usually two days a week – maybe three – instead of heading to school, they will head directly from their partner schools to their internship site and can spend the day there.
"I have a student that's in the Engineering and Architectural program, and he is working with Eldridge Lumber in their design program," Schindler said. "So he's working with their design program at the Sanford store. And he's going over three days a week, spending full days there and loving it."
While students are off-site at their internships, they keep journals and reflect on the process of their experiences there.
Business development is also essential in her role. Schindler will find industries that will support students and be willing to partner with the school. She also helps prepare the students for the job interview process.
Schindler estimates that roughly eighty percent of the students who have gone out to internships are offered jobs at the company where they are.
"Some of them decided they wanted to go different places, but they're getting offers," Schindler said. "And it's a great opportunity for students to test out a company, and quite frankly for the companies to test them out as well."
Throughout her time as the career explorations coordinator, Schindler remembered one particular student who came into the program who was shy and soft-spoken. But when the student graduated from the program and saw him speak at SRTC's Celebrating Partnership event last spring, she saw a different student.
"He was so self-assured and so proud of the work he had done," Schindler said. "And I think that's what this program can do for kids. The sky is the limit, and I want them to take ownership and feel empowered to really explore what their interests are."