San Luis Obispo Business
October, 1999

Chamber connects students to business

Education to Career Students seeking opportunities in the business world and businesses wanting to provide opportunities for students, will now have the means to communicate— through a brand new website.

The first of its kind in the nation, www.education2career.net, was developed by the Chamber in an effort to help students prepare for entry into the business world. This new website will be an instrumental tool in bringing students and businesses together; offering students and teachers opportunities for internships, mentorships, job shadowing and tours in local businesses countywide.

The concept was born out of the Chamber's Education Partnerships Committee, a committee that was formed because the Chamber was concerned about the quality of the community's future workforce because it appeared that schools were not aware of the needs of the business.

"When we first started brainstorming about linking students to businesses and vice versa, the concept was to create a resource guide in the form of a booklet. We weren't even thinking in terms of the Internet because it wasn't even an option," said Committee Chair Dave Juhnke. "Fast forward a couple of years and here we are with this incredible website. If that's not an indication of how fast things have changed and how much of an impact technology is having on the way we di business, I don't know what is."

For the past year, the Chamber has been working with the County Office of Education and Education to Career Connection to turn the vision into a reality.

John Barnhart, Assistant Superintendent Educational Services at the County Office of Education is a member of the Education Partnerships Steering Committee and worked closely with the Chamber in developing the website.

According to Barnhart, providing students opportunities to work with businesses is important for several reasons. "It's important for students to understand the skills that employers value, the importance of good attendance, superior work and proper communication and math skills that we teach in the classroom and how they all relate to the business world," said Barnhart.

Barnhart believes that students who see a connection between the work they're doing in the classroom, and how it will help them when they go to work in the "real world", will be more motivated to continue on in school and master a particular skill.

The new website was created by New Image Technologies (NIT), the company responsible for the revamp of the Chamber's corporate site and is hosted by local Internet Service Provider Fix.net. The site gives background information on the Education to Career Network, its mission, resources and information on opportunities for students, teachers and businesses.

"Businesses don't have to worry about being inundated with students calling them directly," explained the Chamber's Internet Manager Cecilia Paredes. "In trying to be sensitive to our business partners, we've set it up so that a representative in the Career Center of each school will collect all the requests, screen the candidates and then forward them on to the business."

Word of the Chamber's newest website has spread fast and reaction from both educators and the business community has been extremely positive.

"We've been encouraged by the excitement and support we've received from the business community thus far," said Education Partnerships Committee Chair Dave Juhnke. "I think most business people realize that, they too will benefit from this program, by having a more qualified workforce to carry our community into the next century."

Businesses interested in listing opportunities for students should contact Cecilia Paredes at cparedes@slochamber.org.

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