Stories from The Spokesman-Review

Get stories via RSS     Return to headline list

Tying education, jobs

Businesses take lead in connecting with kids

Alison Boggs  •  Staff writer
Published April 19, 2008

Centennial Middle School students react Friday to the cost of living expenses they might expect when they graduate. A computer program adds the expenses of students' wishes and matches them to the appropriate degree needed to obtain that lifestyle. The Spokesman-Review (BRIAN PLONKA The Spokesman-Review) As part of its Career Awareness Campaign, Greater Spokane Incorporated has created four Web sites to inform students of the opportunities available in high-demand industries: greaterspokanemanufacturing.org greaterspokanehealthcare.org greaterspokaneaerospace.org greaterspokanebizpro.org

The Spokane Valley seventh- and eighth-graders decided they'd live in their own apartments, instead of with their parents, when they had jobs of their own. They wanted new cars, cell phones, Internet service and cable television with movie channels. And they planned to go to movies, sporting events, concerts and nightclubs every month.

Then they learned the price tag. To afford these luxuries of adult life, they'd have to earn at least $17 per hour, a wage that, in most cases, would require at least two years of advanced schooling.

The reality check exercise conducted with these Centennial Middle School students Thursday was part of an 18-month effort by Greater Spokane Incorporated to simultaneously address the region's dropout rate and an impending worker shortage. By talking to students and teachers in every Spokane County middle and high school about careers in industries projected to grow, the economic development organization hopes to reach 36,000 students by the end of 2008.

It starts with seventh-graders because "studies have shown that really that's when kids start to disengage from school," said Amy Johnson, Greater Spokane's vice president for work force and education. Starting in middle school, she said, they have less one-on-one teacher contact.

"They're more responsible for themselves," Johnson said. "They need to be able to make that connection to something that matters to them."

The career campaign is focusing on schools where more than 40 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-priced lunches because that's where districts are seeing the highest dropout rates, Johnson said. The work force development division also is seeking funding to hire a researcher to track the campaign's impact, she said.

The career campaign also emphasizes teaching teachers about jobs in high-growth industries, through field trips and tours. Polly Crowley, superintendent of the West Valley School District, said having educators visit industry and bringing company representatives into schools will help students become more aware of jobs they might be interested in.

"We just need to look for opportunities to bring the outside in, as well as get our kids out," Crowley said. "I think it can have a huge impact, especially if it's backed up by the educators' and parents' understanding that this is a good, viable pathway for kids."

Getting this message through to students also could pay dividends for employers who will be seeking increasing numbers of workers in coming years. The four industries highlighted by the campaign as high-demand are: health care, aerospace, manufacturing, and business and professional services, including accountants, architects and engineers.

"Our business community knows and understands that the future of their business is the education of our youth," Johnson said.

Paul May, CEO of Wagstaff, which makes equipment for aluminum casting, said the career awareness campaign has brought tours of teachers and students through his Spokane operation.

"One of the things I'm seeing with these students is they have no awareness what manufacturing's about," May said. "They don't know these jobs are there. We've started to realize somehow we have to make these kids aware of manufacturing."

But both May and Mike Marzetta, president of Liberty Lake manufacturing firm Altek, expressed dismay over how little emphasis schools place on technical training, attributing that partly to the requirements of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.

"There's a whole lot of nonskilled labor out there and there's an equal amount of people out there that got a bachelor's degree in liberal arts, which is good, but there's only X number of jobs that can support that degree," Marzetta said. Manufacturing jobs are in demand, pay well and provide good job security, he said. "And there are shortages."