Job Shadowing Experiences
Job Shadowing is a short-term experience that is intended to help students explore a range of career objectives and begin to identify a career field or pathway and to start toward a career plan.
March 2019 - Brody Larson, a sophomore from Leroy-Ostrander schools, participated in a job shadow experience through the SMEC Next STEP Transition Program. In job shadowing, students make brief worksite visits to spend time with individual workers learning what knowledge, skills and education their jobs entail. One of Brody’s passions is sports, especially talking about sports. Brody and the Next STEP staff kept this in mind during his career research seminar and decided to have him explore the career of a radio disc jockey. Recently Brody was able to spend a morning with Luke Lonien, a DJ at 103.1 KFIL radio station in Preston.
The experience started with a tour of the radio station. Luke showed Brody the production studio, the meeting rooms, the radio equipment, and even where all the old records for broadcasting were stored. Brody really enjoyed seeing all of the broadcasting booths. Brody and Luke talked about sports teams, especially the Green Bay Packers, but Brody also learned a lot from the experience. He found out that working at a small radio station is a very time consuming position between on the air broadcasting, meetings, attending sporting events, and the weekend commitments. Brody also learned from Luke the post-secondary education required to become a radio broadcaster. Brody shared with staff that he “had so much fun” and the best part was “Luke telling me about all the things they do at the station”. It was also neat to hear Luke on the radio after seeing the studio first hand. The SMEC Next STEP Transition program would like to say a huge thank you to Luke Lonien and the staff at KFIL radio station for taking time to provide this experiential learning opportunity for our student. |
September 2015- Caleb was able to experience a day on the farm with the help from Jon and Mark Wolterman. Caleb assisted the guys with cleaning the machinery and checking on the livestock. Caleb will begin to work on the Project Discovery Green House kit and the his plan is to sell plants this spring at the Garage Sale.
April 2015 -
DeAna, a junior at Grand Meadow High School, assisted the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in their annual survey of the rare and endangered Minnesota dwarf trout lily, which took place at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park outside of Nerstrand, MN. DeAna has demonstrated an interest in working with plants and took part in this annual monitoring effort as part of a crew supervised by DNR staff and experienced volunteers. DeAna was able to spot the dwarf trout lily bud the size of a grain of rice five feet in front of her. She navigated rough, steep terrain in her identifying and search efforts. |
March 2014 -Greg, a transition senior at Southland High School, has expressed an interest in cake decorating. He has been working on these skills as part of his work-based learning program and was able to tour the bakery at HyVee in Austin.
During his visit he learned all of the various tasks that the cake decorators have to do and a new style for frosting a cake. Greg has decorated several cakes at Wagner Foods in Adams. He works with Lisa Heimer every Monday in the bakery and also helps out with other tasks around the store.
During his visit he learned all of the various tasks that the cake decorators have to do and a new style for frosting a cake. Greg has decorated several cakes at Wagner Foods in Adams. He works with Lisa Heimer every Monday in the bakery and also helps out with other tasks around the store.
February 2014 - Two students from Lyle High School expressed an interest in working with children. They toured Apple Lane Child Care Center and Discovery Learning Center in Austin. Chyanne (center) has been working at Southland’s Early Childhood Center this past year and will begin working at Julie Farrell Family Daycare in Lyle starting April 2014. Samantha (right) is completing her work-based learning experience with the Adams Health Care Center and will replace Chyanne at Southland ECSE in April 2014.
November 2013- Spencer K, a senior from Glenville-Emmons school, had a great experience participating in a job shadow with Jim Kiefer, the mayor of Taopi and city clerk for Adams. Spencer had a strong passion for public service, especially politics. After the job shadow, Spencer was assigned a research assignment to discover the how the city council governs and how to conduct a meeting using the Roberts Rules of Order.