Unique opportunity for all seniors in LISD to go to job sites to explore career fields of their interest.
Goals of the program:
· Students discover that the skills they are learning in school will be of value in the work place.
· Students learn about the education and training required to enter career fields.
· Students make better-informed decisions about career goals.
Interested in hosting students???
· Students will be on-site for the week of February 5 -9, 2007 from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. (time of day may be adjusted).
Suggested activities:
· student orientation to the career field
· complete an application and/or mock interview and critique
· job shadow
· work on a project for the business (see below for information on how to develop a project).

Objective would be to provide a quality weeklong career job shadowing experience.

Students will arrive with a handbook where they will record their observations.

Interested in participating? E-mail or call Pat Pewthers, Transition Coordinator at pat.pewthers@leanderisd.org or 512-435-8342.

·COOL Week is February 5 – 9, 2007. COOL Week hours are typically 9 a.m.-3 p.m., so it does not interfere with student extracurricular activities or part-time jobs. These hours also allow our students to travel into Austin at off-peak traffic hours.

·November - December: Transition Coordinator recruits new business partners and works with existing business partners primarily through email and phone. Businesses can confirm their intent to participate either by phone, fax, or email with the campus Transition Coordinator:
Pat Pewthers
512-435-8342
pat.pewthers@leanderisd.org

·December - January: Businesses should complete and return the Job Site Information Sheet (available at cphs.leanderisd.org/coolweek/) as soon as possible via email or fax. Identifying the project(s) that student teams will work on, early in the process, helps ensure that businesses will receive a team of students who will have the skills to complete the project (s).

·December: Transition Coordinator begins matching student teams to business projects.

·January 25: Students attend training in COOL Week assignment teams where they receive their Job Site Information Sheet with details of their assignment.

·January 30: Businesses receive a confirmation (either by e-mail or fax) with names of students assigned to them. If a business needs names earlier for security purposes, that can be arranged.

·February 5 - 9: Students attend COOL Week. Each morning a parent volunteer will call the On-Site Project Coordinator at each business to check attendance.

·Post-COOL Week: Business Partner will be asked to return an evaluation to provide feedback on the COOL Week experience.


Transition Coordinator Pat Pewthers is available to assist businesses in all phases of this project.

COOL Week projects can take several different avenues. Listed here are some ideas that business partners may use to springboard an idea for the COOL Week project. Many ideas may be developed so they can be used from year to year—facilitating your continued involvement as a COOL Week business partner.

Keep in mind these projects are in addition to allowing students to experience those “first day activities” such as the application, resume critique, and mock interview. Job shadowing and working with both the student team and your employees will serve to round out their COOL Week experience. Over the years, such activities have proven to be the most beneficial to students.

1) The Parallel Project:
Students will carry out a project your business is currently working on (or has recently completed). The goal would be to see if the students come to the same conclusions as your business or if their new view of things provides some innovation. A successful Parallel Project can become a Mock Project for future years of participation in COOL Week.

2) The Mock Project:
Your business can set up an “imitation experience” that replicates one an entry-level employee might experience.

3) The Marketing Project:
Use these students to research and develop some marketing plans to help promote your business or product to this age group.

4) The Household Duties Project:
There are always “household chores” that need to be done around your office. Students should experience some of these activities if they are consistent with the average working day of a typical employee. Care should be taken that students do not spend the week filing or doing only mundane tasks. Exposure to some of these activities will provide them with some useful experience of the inner workings of the business while getting some of your “household chores” completed at the same time.

Business Partner Personnel:
A successful, sustaining COOL Week experience can be designed for year-to-year use should employee changes occur. A project where a new employee can easily step in and take over the management of the COOL Week project will sustain itself into the future.