Industry to Educator tour a success
Industry to Educator tour a success
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Monday, August 13, 2012, 12:00am
ALBION — A new addition, the Noble County Externship, made this year’s Industry to Educator Externship program a success in Northeast Indiana, a press release said.
The Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce’s Graduate Retention Program partnered with NIDIA and the Talent Initiative to organize the seventh annual event for regional high school and middle school educators. A record 39 educators took part.
The goal of the weeklong learning opportunity was bridging the gap between education and industry to give educators real-world experiences that better enable them to prepare their students for future careers.
Focusing on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), the Allen County Externship experience included an exploration of defense companies Raytheon, ITT Exelis, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, and USSI Ultra Electronics.
With help from the Graduate Retention Program, the Noble County Economic Development Corp. launched a Noble County Externship.
“It was very beneficial to use the Graduate Retention Program’s template as a starting point for the EDC program. Their leadership and input was instrumental in the program’s success,” said Noble County EDC executive director Rick Sherck.
The Noble County Externship experience had 13 educators participate and they visited eight industries in four days.
Participating industries were Kraft Foods, Indiana Phoenix, B&J Medical, Busche, Courier, Graphic Packaging, Guardian and Laketronics.
The focus of this year’s event was on advanced manufacturing, including printing, automotive, medical device, food processing and defense. Large corporations and home-grown entrepreneurial entities participated in this year’s event.
“This was a great opportunity for educators and industry to meet and better understand the challenges faced by both sectors and how to work together to better prepare our youth for a life of continued growth and development,” said Jamie Bell, human resources manager for Guardian Industries, one of Noble County’s Externship companies.
The Noble County EDC is the lead economic development agency in Noble County. For more information, visit noblecountyedc.com.
