Cool Week
Cool Week
Written by Rob Heidrick Friday, 23 January 2009
The team of young researchers saw potential in the empty lot, visualizing the layout of the development that would occupy the land. The project was not a simple one, but the engineers-in-training presented their vision of the site plan in less than a week. By all accounts, it was an impressive effort for high school seniors.
As participants in an annual LISD program called COOL Week (short for Career Opportunities on Location), the group of students spent five days last February at the engineering company PBS&J conceptualizing an actual project that the company had undertaken years before.
“They really get to see how the different components all fit together to develop the site,” said Adrienne Boer, a senior scientist at PBS&J. “They start to see their world differently because they’ve been involved in all the aspects of development.”
COOL Week has bridged the gap between school and career for more than a decade, connecting students with businesses in disciplines ranging from media production to veterinary medicine. Guidance counselors at Leander, Cedar Park and Vista Ridge high schools coordinate the event, which will place more than 250 senior students in apprenticeships Feb. 2-6.
Sandra MacLachlan, a transition coordinator at Leander High School, said the program’s main goal is to expose students to skills and workplace situations unique to their desired professions.
“There are environmental conditions that we can’t mimic in the classroom,” MacLachlan said. “It’s the only way the kids are going to get exposed to what that particular industry is looking for.”
Unlike typical job-shadowing programs, COOL Week requires participants to collaborate on large-scale team projects.
By the end of the week, each team prepares presentations for a panel of judges from their chosen company and school faculty. The presentations summarize the experience of working with the business, and many teams give suggestions on how the organizations can improve their operations.
MacLachlan said the businesses hold students to the same high standards as actual employees. Teams are required to operate as independently as possible, relying mainly on their own problem-solving abilities rather than help from staff members.
“Businesses, a lot of the time, are astounded at the level of knowledge that high school kids have now,” MacLachlan said.
Interest in COOL Week has increased significantly among students and businesses alike, with nearly twice as many participants signing up for February’s program as last year. The businesses take notice of the students’ enthusiasm, MacLachlan said, because it reveals a genuine appreciation of their craft.
“Teaching someone about what they do helps them realize why they love what they do,” she said. “It’s a rebirth of what their job is all about.”
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