Interactive event designed to bridge the gap between education and employment for Newark high school students
[Newark, NJ – February 29, 2016] – Schools That Can Newark (STC Newark) in partnership with the Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC) hosted an interactive event Saturday at Rutgers University – Newark for Newark district, charter and independent school students called “Bridging the Gap between Education and Employment”. The event was open to students and alumni from all Newark high schools as well as school leaders and industry representatives and featured workshops about networking and job interviewing skills.
“It is essential for our students to develop networking skills and relationships in the community as they continue their education and pursue a career,” said Superintendent Christopher D. Cerf of NPS. “Schools That Can and the Newark City of Learning Collaborative are giving Newark’s young people an important opportunity to learn what industry leaders need from our future workforce, and I look forward to partnering with these organizations to making sure our students graduate from high school college and career ready.”
STC Newark and NCLC are both committed to increasing educational and job opportunities for Newark’s young people to ensure they are college and career ready upon graduation.
Erin Sweeney, Executive Director of STC Newark, helped organize Saturday’s event. “Schools That Can is committed to giving Newark’s students and schools access to community and industry leaders who can share valuable insight about the kind of skills our young people need in order to compete in today’s global economy,” said Sweeney. “It was exciting to see the conversations and relationships that came out of Saturday’s event, and we believe that our efforts will ultimately translate to creating jobs for our students right here in Newark.”
Students and alumni attended workshops on several topics that will help students as they continue their education and pursue careers later in life. Topics included: identifying and developing mentor relationships; leveraging social media to create a personal brand; how turn an idea into a product; how to pursue a career in law; how to leverage online resources to make studying and working more efficient; and how to apply and interview for a job.
“The Newark City of Learning Collaborative was proud to partner with Schools That Can to bring business leaders and students together to talk about how we can create a 21st Century workforce right here in Newark,” said Mahako Etta, Program Manager of NCLC. “NCLC is dedicated to increasing the graduation rate and the number of Newark students with postsecondary degrees and certificates in our community, and our business community is an essential part of making that a reality.”
Participating schools included Bard High School Early College, Barringer Academy of STEAM, Christ the King Prep, East Side High School, Fast Track Academy, Great Oaks Charter High School, Newark Collegiate Academy, People’s Prep, the Paulo Freire School and University High School.