INSPIRE Fall Updates

Welcome back to the start of a new school year. We hope you enjoyed the sunshine and daylight.

This year marks the beginning of our 6th year of operation and we have been busy planning for the upcoming year!

Before you learn about the plans for 2018/19, let's review 2017/18 metrics.

We have grown the number of member companies, close to 100. We also had more students venturing out into our businesses, topping nearly 550 students checking out different careers in our communities. Lastly, we are continuing to grow our local Youth Co-op program, increasing the number of employers from 8 to 16 and the number of students from 51 to 67.

Thank you all for your input during our Annual Planning meeting

This year we have two areas of focus, one is our students and the other is our teachers. This year we plan to engage with students outside of Career Cruising/Xello by connecting with them where they want information, their phones and through their schools’ student communication platform. We are investing in a text messaging service and partnering with our schools to ensure company activities and career experiences are well-known to our students and parents.

We also plan to engage teachers in the career planning process with students. Our focus is to connect to teachers all the opportunities in INSPIRE and how they can use these activities to promote academic and career to students.

For full details on our strategic plan, please click here:

INSPIRE Request Process and Form

Since the beginning of INSPIRE one of the biggest assets was the ability to easily connect students to companies. As we continue to evolve as an organization, this remains a top priority, which is why we developed a new request form. Through feedback from our partners, we revamped the form fields to ensure companies have all the information needed to schedule students and we enhanced the communication flow effectively making feedback to students instantaneous.

Our new INSPIRE request form allows us to take students requests outside of the career cruising system, which will make it easier for schools to share with students and parents and allow for connections to be made via the student's mobile device.

To see the new request form, please visit this website:

https://inspiresheboygancounty.formstack.com/forms/inspire_student_request

Youth Co-op

2017-18 was a very successful year for the Youth Co-op program. We saw an increase in the number of schools with students who participated, an increase in the number of businesses participating in the program, and more diversity in the industries that are represented.

We received positive feedback from students who participated in the program and are utilizing that feedback to revamp how we introduce the program to prospective students. This fall we will be going into the schools with our company representatives so we can provide a more personalized experience for students who are interested in this paid work experience and also answer their in depth questions about the positions available. We will be utilizing past participants as Student Ambassadors to encourage their peers to take advantage of this great opportunity.

We will begin recruiting for 2nd quarter co-ops in September. The due date for 2nd quarter applicants is Friday October 5th.

Students who are new to the program are required to attend a parent/guardian information night which will be held October 1st at American Orthodontics in Sheboygan and October 5th at Johnsonville LLC in Sheboygan Falls.

Both meetings will be held from 6:30-8:00 PM. Companies will be on hand to talk with families about the program.

For more information on the Youth Co-op, please visit: www.inspiresheboygancounty.org/co-op

Last Year, the WEDC announced the purchase of a state-wide Inspire License. This purchase allowed the state to organize and divide the state into 9 regional economic development regions. Sheboygan County belongs to the New North Region.

The NEW North region will be opening up for license users soon, current partners include INSPIRE Sheboygan, INSPIRE Door County, and INSPIRE Northeast Wisconsin (Menominee/Marinette region) INSPIRE Sheboygan has been leading the voice of what INSPIRE in the New North will look like and it will only enhance your experience.

For more information on the INSPIRE Wisconsin initiative, please visit: www.inspirewisconsin.org

Toolkits

Coming in October is the launch of the INSPIRE Sheboygan Toolkits! This has been a project two years in the making, and these toolkits will help our employers design the different student work based learning activities for students.
This project was in collaboration with the WEDC and will be available on our website and the INSPIRE Wisconsin website.

Toolkit topics will include

1. INSPIRE Overview

2. Company Tours

3. Job Shadow

4. Guest Speaker

5. Teacher Externships

6. Youth Co-op

Stay tuned for more information when these toolkits are launched.

Copyright © *2017* *INSPIRE Sheboygan County, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
621 S. 8th St.
Sheboygan, WI 53081

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
INSPIRE Sheboygan County · 621 S. 8th St · Sheboygan, WI 53081 · USA