Partnerships between school districts and chambers of commerce

Note: The following was originally published on DiscoverMuskego.com back in October 2017. I thought it was worth sharing here. Hope you enjoy and find it to be of some value.

Partnership between Muskego’s chamber of commerce and school district one of the city’s best kept secrets

By Aaron S. Robertson

October 30, 2017

In addition to serving as publisher of DiscoverMuskego.com, the author serves as a board member of the Muskego Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism and as president of Muskego’s Library Board. Currently a doctoral student at Milwaukee’s Cardinal Stritch University, he is the business manager for Estate Services, a Muskego home repair and remodeling contractor. All views expressed here are strictly his own.

A little shy of two weeks ago, on October 19, I had the immense privilege of participating in a luncheon at Muskego High School. The purpose of the event was to bring students and area business and community leaders together to discuss and reflect on the many career and educational paths that are available out there.

During this mentoring lunch, a joint effort between the Muskego Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism’s Education and Mentoring Committee and Muskego High School, we broke up into two groups by gender, each in a separate classroom. From there, we broke up further into smaller tables, with one or two mentors joining a group of students for conversation and a pizza lunch. I was joined at my table by Rob Schopf, owner of the Indian Motorcycle of Metro Milwaukee dealership on Racine Avenue. Rob and I shared our stories of education, training, and work over the years with several young men that appeared genuinely interested in what we had to say. Likewise, we were certainly genuinely interested in what they had to say, and it was a great give and take of questions, talking, listening, and connecting.

After lunch and these small group discussions, the larger room joined together for elevator pitches, with each student and mentor standing up briefly and introducing themselves to the room. Mentors shared what they do, or did, for work, and offered meaningful career advice to the students. Students shared what they hope to study or do for work someday. After this, we broke up again into smaller groups for further conversation. This time, however, we changed the groups up in an attempt to match students and mentors around similar interests and work experiences based on what they shared in their elevator pitches.

The experience was as much of a learning opportunity for us mentors as it was for the students. We all became teachers and students of one another. For me, it was particularly rewarding to hear the stories of the other mentors. We had a diverse collection of talent assembled and backgrounds represented. Some of the mentors are college graduates, while others didn’t pursue formal education beyond high school. Some are still working, while others are retired. Some worked or are working for others, while others have pursued business ownership. Areas of expertise represented included sales and marketing, customer service, banking, engineering, trades, tech, police work, elected public service, office management, and entrepreneurship.

The partnership between the Muskego Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism and the Muskego-Norway School District is one of Muskego’s best kept secrets. It’s critical that high school (and college) students are given these opportunities to bridge theory and practice and begin making connections to the world of work early on. This has become a particular area of interest for me over the last decade or so, since graduating college myself, and is one of the chief reasons why I recently started offering tutoring in Muskego. With work, technology, and education and training needs in a constant state of flux, communities that have these kinds of partnerships in place are going to be able to successfully navigate both the challenges and rewarding opportunities of workforce development, and hence, local economic development. While perusing the Waukesha Freeman on Thursday, October 26, I came across an article in the Greater Milwaukee Jobs section that grabbed my attention entitled, “Workforce Plans Put New Emphasis on Paid Internships, Apprenticeships,” written by Dan Zehr. One of the story’s interviewees was Andres Alcantar, chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission. Mr. Alcantar made the same case when he observed, “Occupations are being transformed, and it’s important we give students insight into what this means for them in terms of opportunities.”

In addition to this mentoring lunch, other events and activities that take place throughout the year in this powerful partnership include, among other items, mock job interviews and resume advice, interviewing skits, and career bus tours around town. And then of course, there’s the Chamber’s annual scholarship program.

If you’re interested in learning more about the work of the Muskego Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism’s Education and Mentoring Committee, visit http://www.muskego.org/pages/EducationMentoring, or reach out to the Chamber office at 414-422-1155, where staff are always happy to connect with you and answer your questions.