More than 30 community volunteers spent all or part of their day Thursday meeting with students, conducting interviews like they would if they were interviewing someone for a job, and then providing feedback to the students.
“I think the hardest question they asked was why they should hire me,” said Josalyn Cramer. “I have a lot of adaptability for any company, but it was hard to think about it.”
Malia Hamby said it was hard to talk about herself. “It’s just hard to tell someone you don’t know about who you are,” she said. “I think this was all definitely worthwhile. It’s something we’re all going to have to do.”
Kaylee Green said although she’s been through interviews before, this was another good practice. “I feel like I’ve learned how to get feedback and use it so I know what I can do to improve.”
Nearly all 145 English 12 students participated in the day-long event. English teachers Tricia Rickert and Kevin Kane organized the event. Rickert said students wrote their resumes, cover letters and have been practicing interview skills in class leading up to this event.
Liz Lenz with Barry County Community Mental Health Authority, spent her entire day at TK along with others from her office. “It’s my absolute favorite day of the year,” she said. “This is so important, and you don’t really get an opportunity to practice before you have to go in and do an interview. It’s hard. I just think if we can normalize it a little it will help take some of the scary part of it away.”
Lenz has long supported the mock interviews. “We need more things like this for our kids. It’s practical, hands-on and almost everyone will have to do this at some point in their lives. We have to show students how to do this.”
Companies who sent representatives to take part in this valuable experience included Barry County Mental Health Association, McKeown Kraai, TCU, Bradford White, Middleville Village manager, BCSATF, McDonald’s, Caledonia Farmers Elevator, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Corewell Health, Henry Ford Health, Lacks, Sylvan Learning Center, and Steelcase.
Thank you to all the volunteers who gave their time and talents to help prepare TKHS students for their future.