“We do this because of our commitment to getting kids ready for post high school,” said Scott Aldrich, one of the English teachers who has helped bring this program to TK.
Senior Reese Terpstra said it was a good experience. “I haven’t been through a formal interview like this before,” said Terpstra. “We have to go into the real world after high school and this gives us some experience of what it will be like.”
Classmate Katelyn Linebaugh admitted she was a little nervous about the interview. “After doing this, I feel more confident now and for the future,” she said.
English teacher Tricia Rickert helped students set up virtual interviews with laptops and headphones, while other students did in-person interviews. “This is a perfect opportunity to show students what they do in English class is a real skill they’ll need in the real world. They had to write their resume and practice their communication skills. We know how valuable it is to have this kind of practice,” she said.
Volunteers from 41 local, state and national companies and organizations volunteered time to make this program a success, interviewing students and providing feedback.
Annie Halle, with the Barry Community Foundation, said she was impressed with the students she interviewed. “This is a skill that is needed and it’s so important for kids to know how to do this and have confidence about themselves,” she said.
Senior Zac Ploeg said he thought his interview went very well. “She asked a lot of questions, but we had talked about what they might ask us in class so I felt like I was pretty well prepared,” he said after his interview with a representative from Maserati. “She was really nice and she said I would probably be good at customer service. I just think this is a good thing to teach us to be adults and prepare us for after high school. It gives us experience so we don’t just go blindly into a first interview completely unprepared.”
Ethan VanderLoon said he appreciated the interview experience. “It teaches us more what it’s really going to be like when we have to interview for a real job,” he said.
Classmate Logan Schoendorf agreed it was definitely a worthwhile lesson. “It’s great practice that we know we’ll probably use sometime in the future.”
“I felt like I kept explaining myself too much at first, but then I calmed down and we just started talking,” said Abby Marcukaitis who was visibly nervous prior to her on-line interview. “You just have to be yourself.”
Aldrich said that’s part of the goal of this assignment - to let students work out their nerves and realize job interviews are just like having a conversation with someone. “We really want our students to be prepared and at least have some expectation of what a real job interview might be like. It’s something almost everybody has to do at some point in their life.”
This is the third year the program has been offered to high school seniors in the College English classes. Last year, seniors had to do all their interviews virtually, but this year it’s a hybrid model. Some students are interviewing face-to-face with business and community leaders while others are getting a chance to interview virtually with state and national companies.
Participating volunteers and the companies they represented were:
- YMCA of West Michigan
- McKeown & Kraai Professional CPAs
- Maserati North America
- Barry County Community Mental Health Authority
- West Michigan Works
- Michigan State Police
- Viking Corporation
- Steelcase
- Buist Electric
- Thornapple Credit Union
- Bradford White
- St. Joe’s Health
- Barry County Road Commission
- Barry Community Foundation
- United Way
- Highpoint Community Bank
- Colorado Secretary of State
- Advanced Stone
- OST Software
- TubeLite, Inc.
- Agency on Aging of Western Michigan
- St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
- MRC Industries