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Job Shadowing, Internships, and Mentoring
In St. Paul High SchoolsOnline Discussion: May 17 - 28
http://www.stpauljobshadow.org/ ====================================================
---- Anatomy Of A Job Shadow Experience, ---- the provider's perspective
By Roger Barr, Support Our Schools
Hello, everyone. In the interest of full disclosure, my organization Support Our Schools is one of the cosponsors of this on-line forum. A couple of months back, when this forum was still in the idea stage, I agreed to host a Mounds Park Academy senior named John in a two day job shadow--each day running, roughly, from 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. By shear coincidence, these dates fell during this extended second week of the forum. John, my shadow, and I agreed that we will each record our perspective over the two days, giving forum visitors a dual account of the experience.
I agreed to be a host after a recruiter from Mounds Park Academy contacted me via phone and made what was essentially a sales pitch. I was an easy sale. I strongly believe that it is the role of adults to mentor young people. That alone was reason enough for me to say "yes" with no hesitation. The fact that Support Our Schools is working to create links between public high schools in St. Paul and the wider community to create job shadowing opportunities for students was, as they say, the icing on the cake. John later called me himself and we set the dates.
After the deal was made the questions began to mount up. What would I be doing those days, and would my days include events that could not easily accommodate a shadow? What would I do then? Overall, would the experience inconvenience me, and would I be scratching for things to say after the first hour? Would my job be interesting to watch? After all, I sit at a desk, make and receive phone calls, work at the computer and have people stop into my office to talk about a variety of subjects. Oh yes, I also attend a lot of meetings. The excitement of my job, and there is considerable excitement, mainly happens inside my head. How could I transform these physical acts and mental processes into an experience that was valuable to my shadow?
Day 1 has come and gone and many of these questions have been answered. John and I spent a few minutes getting acquainted, engaging in what could be classified as water cooler chat. I asked him what subjects he was interested in. Math and Science was his reply. He likes the concrete aspects of match and science, he said. I asked how he chose a nonprofit focusing on public education reform and he said that he put in for an open assignment and this is what he drew. All seniors at his school, John said, are required to have a job shadowing experience. Providing John with an experience in the abstract world of policy verses the more concrete world of math and science became the focus of my interaction with John for the remainder of the day.
I gave John an overview of St. Paul, of our public education system, and (I hope) how the abstract world of public policy works (and often times doesn't work). Among the topics we discussed were the recent comments from Senator Day regarding the, ah, quality of the Minneapolis and St. Paul Public Schools. John did get to watch me sit at my desk, work at my computer and make and receive a handful of telephone calls. As appropriate, I kept up a running commentary upon what the issues were, what I was doing and why I was doing it. As the morning continued, John began to ask a question or two, which I answered. At one point, I needed to have a confidential conversation on the telephone and asked him to step out of the office for a few minutes, which he did.
At 11:00 a.m. we headed off to a board meeting for Kids Voting St. Paul, an organization that seeks to increase voter turnout by acquainting students with the voting process through a special kids election that runs parallel to the official election. I serve as vice president of this board and head of the publicity sub committee. Senator Day's comments about the Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts were the main topic of pre-meeting conversation. Our meeting covered the activities of the organization as it prepares for the 2004 election.
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