Adele Strunks, Greenville High School, was able to job shadow at the Brethren Retirement Community.
Submitted photos
Adele Strunks, Greenville High School, was able to job shadow at the Brethren Retirement Community.
Submitted photos
DARKE COUNTY — Juniors and seniors throughout Darke County participated in Job Shadow Week, Nov. 13–17. Job shadowing is a valuable learning opportunity that bridges the gap between classroom education and the real-world workforce. The primary goal of job shadow week is to provide these students with insights into various careers, allowing them to make more informed decisions about their future career path and the opportunities available to them here in Darke County.
The 200 students who participated had over 250 career positions to choose from. The event, coordinated by Darke County Economic Development, worked with 50 Darke County companies to offer a variety of career positions. Students were able to explore their interests and allow this process to help them identify fields that align with their skills and values. Adele Strunks, junior at Greenville High School shared, “that she learned that there are a lot of opportunities in the field of graphic design, many areas she had not thought of before.” Adele job shadowed at the Brethren Retirement Community, and learned first-hand that there are many career opportunities within long term healthcare.
When choosing their job shadows, students in some cases chose a career that they were not as familiar with and for other students they chose knowing this would be an opportunity to explore their career choice in a hands-on manner. Josie Madden, a senior at Greenville High School, had the opportunity to job shadow Dr. Abigail Riegle at Family Health. Through shadowing Dr. Riegle, Josie learned how to interact with patients and the education required to become a doctor. Josie shared her favorite part was rocking the babies, and that she had always wanted to help people.
Beyond academic and career exploration, job shadowing cultivates essential soft skills in the students. They are developing communication skills, workplace etiquette and the importance of collaboration. Darke County Economic Development would like to thank all the schools and businesses in Darke County for making these opportunities available to the students and for a great job shadow week.
