Mentors wanted for HHS students

Business leaders needed to give every student an opportunity to learn
The Healdsburg High School internship program is seeking additional business mentors to help students prepare for life after school.
“In the classroom, they’ve had lessons on how to dress, lessons on resume writing, and they’ve done some career research online,” said Shelley Anderson, private business owner and volunteer coordinator at HHS. “We had an exciting visitor…Christie Norco, from one of the up-and-coming high-tech firms in San Francisco, came up and presented to all five English classes about what she looks for in a resume and cover letter.” Guest speaker Kerry Rego, of Kerry Rego consulting, will also be presenting on social media dos and don’ts, Dec. 11.
Meanwhile, internship coordinators seek more business mentors to make sure every student can be partnered with a business they have interest in.
“We’ve changed the way in which we’re reaching out to the community members,” said internship coordinator Heather Wilson. “We realized it would be beneficial to interview the students first, instead of blanketing the whole community. We’re being much more purposeful in our search.”
For the duration of the internship program, an internship coordinator interviews each of 150 juniors at the high school, and tries to partner them with a business mentor relevant to their interests. Anderson described a student interested in dermatology they were able to pair with a dermatologist, a student interested in psychology they were able to pair with a psychologist, and a student who loved coffee they were able to place at Olam’s Specialty Coffee, a green coffee importer that supplies coffee to many coffee shops in Healdsburg.
So far, the program has almost 100 confirmed mentors, according to Anderson. “The response from the community has been wonderful,” she said. “Some are from last year, some are brand new ones.”
“I’m excited about the collaboration with the community,” said coordinator Wilson. “About developing a meaningful curriculum, and working with young people again.”
The program is still hoping to secure about 50 more business mentorships. “One of the problems is, there are a lot of kids who want to go into law enforcement or fire safety,” said Anderson. “Finding those kinds of internships has been difficult. I’ve reached out to Santa Rosa police, the CHP in Rohnert Park, and I’m waiting to hear back from others. It doesn’t have to be just Healdsburg businesses.”
Businesses who volunteer to be mentors for the program will be publicly acknowledged, so that’s a bit of good publicity for them, according to Anderson. Also, they’ll be able to attend the welcome luncheon to give them a real connection to the workforce of the future, and involvement in the program can also help businesses plan their own hiring and training practices to be more effective.
“These students could be their next employers,” said Wilson. “It’s helping to prepare the workforce…helping our community come together for a common good.”
“Students get hired all the time out of their internships,” said Anderson, “so if they’re thinking of hiring a young person for a summer job, this would be a good way to try them out, and it would be no cost to the employers.”