Aidan Kinard

Marketing Liaison

Job seekers frequently come across the words, “Experience needed” in their search through help-wanted ads.  Often, seniors and recent graduates wonder how to gain experience while still in school.

More and more high schools are working on the answer to that question through internship and job experience programs. Red Lion High School students who completed those experiences participated in the third annual awards ceremony on April 7 and 8. Students who participated in work-based learning experiences received an award that celebrates their outstanding academic efforts. 

“They’ve gone above and beyond and devoted a lot of their time to partnering with professional members of the community to gain career and workplace learning experiences,” Sarah Warner, Co-op and Internship Coordinator said. “I am so thankful looking back like I didn’t realize in the thick of things, how many students and connections we were able to make.”

Mrs. Warner, Mrs. Stuth, and Mrs. Morris have all been working with several students over the course of the fall and spring semesters to make sure they have the experience they need in order to enter the workforce, go to college, or join the military. These courses give students the time to learn and understand their field of interest whether that is to see if it is the right career for them or if they are simply interested in learning more about the occupation. 

“We just felt there needed to be a way to pull everyone together,” said Kimberly Morris, “Regardless of what your skill level is, your academic ability, whatever, you should be honored.” 

Angela Stuth, transition coordinator for special needs students, helps her students with job skills in the Lions Grounds cafe, but her efforts don’t stop there. 

“I specifically work with students with special needs, but a lot of our students go out to work on their skills, their vocational skills, and they do an awesome job,” said Mrs. Stuth. 

Through the experience that Mrs. Stuth’s students gain through these work-based learning experiences, they will have the knowledge to better communicate with other individuals and build relationships with business partners. 

Hosting this ceremony in the age of COVID, they improvised by making the ceremony into an online live event. Even though the broadcast was recorded prior to the actual ceremony, it is a great way for parents, business partners, and the community to see these students receive their awards with pride. 

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From Classroom Learning to Real Life Experience 

As students received their rewards, Digital Interactive Media Production teacher Mr. Jonathon Zeigler and his own intern, Anthony Barkus filmed the awards exchange to create a video compilation for parents, business partners, and the community to watch in early May.

“We set up cameras and we recorded what they have prepared and gave us to work with,” stated Mr. Zeigler. “The footage is going to be given to my level one students as a project and each other student will create and edit the footage and photos captured into a ceremony and from that, they will decide which one they actually want to put out and publicate.” 

Each student is in charge of editing their own version of the ceremony and from that, they will gain real-life experience in editing film.

Together, they all work to make sure that students get the experience they need to enter the workforce, go to college, or join the military. They can help any student find any field of interest that they put their mind to and make sure that students get the experience they need in order to understand the field better and get hands-on experience.

 “Any student before they leave high school should have some type of experience under their belt,” said Mrs. Warner. “You are taking your own time and your money to go off and enter our society. You should have experience before you are taking your own time and money to figure out if that’s the right fit for you.”

For any students interested in entering a career of interest internship or work experience program, Mrs. Warner or Mrs. Morris for more information. 

They will help you step by step and make sure you get the experience you need for your future career.