EHS Students and local businesses discover benefits of fledgling partnerships
Special to the Gazette
Friday, October 27, 2006
A growing school-community partnership is quietly at work at Emporia High School .
In the EHS Business Department, students are producing cookbooks for a church, preparing mailings for a non-profit agency, creating marketing materials for a local business, helping school administrators with record-keeping, and designing graphic materials for teachers and office staff. The students do not get paid for their work, but they will receive elective credit for the new vocational education course known as In-House Training.
The class gives students experience using their technology skills in real work situations, according to Denise Wyrick, program coordinator. Part of her job is to line up jobs with businesses, non-profit agencies and individuals and to oversee the students as they complete the work. This requires the class to problem-solve, estimate production time and work under deadline pressure.
Three students in the class are seniors who have taken most of the other businesses classes offered at EHS. The students wanted to sharpen their skills using common computer programs, even though none plans a career in a business-office setting. They all said these skills will serve them well in their college studies and future career fields.
Kali Schumann and Nelly Camacho have been responsible for the design and production of a new cookbook for the First United Methodist Church this month. The cookbook is a project of the Cornerstone Café, operated by the adult Sunday school class at the church.
Church member Jennifer Bennett said she hopes to have the cookbooks ready to sell the weekend after Thanksgiving. The Cornerstone Café is open every Sunday and offers hot beverages and hot breakfast items for a donation. Volunteers get many requests to share the recipes for the dishes sold there, so the group decided to publish the recipe book.
The church class gave the students freedom to design the format for the book, the cover and the recipe pages. The church was looking for something unique that could be sold at a low cost as a holiday stocking stuffer, Bennett said. The class came up with a book about the size of recipe card. Kali designed the cover, giving the church two options. She and Nelly designed the graphics and layout of the individual recipe pages.
Kali said she took the In House Training class because it was the only business course offered she had not yet completed. She plans to major in biology and eventually have a career in medical research, but she knows the computer applications she is using this year and the problem solving skills will serve her well in her science studies.
“We have to be really creative to figure out how to complete the different tasks,” she said.
For example, the cookbook has been created using two Microsoft Office programs, Word and Publisher. The page designs were created in Publisher, but would not print out properly. To solve the problem, Kali and Nelly had to copy the material into Word.
“I give a lot of credit to these students to problem solve to that level,” Mrs. Wyrick said.
This week, Kali and Nelly are proofreading the book and making final edits. On the production side, classmate Jared Johnson, a senior who plans to become a pilot, is printing and cutting the covers.
Much of the time, Jared works on other assignments, such as creating marketing materials for Plant Sub, a restaurant at 2715 Candlewood Dr . This allows him to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, common software used by graphic designers. He also is responsible for maintaining an inventory of concession stand items for the principals’ office. This helps the administrative office manage inventory and keep the concession stand stocked as needed for athletic events.
“They take care of the ordering based on my inventory,” he said.
The class also recently put together a mailing for the Kanza Rail-Trails Conservancy, a private non-profit organization that is developing a Flint Hills Trail that crosses through north Lyon County . Earlier in the year, students assisted the library staff with filing.
“That was their least favorite job,” Wyrick said.
Nelly, a senior who plans to major in biology, enjoys the class because the work is interesting and allows her to work independently.
“It’s a more casual atmosphere (than most classes) as long as we get our work done,” she said.
Wyrick is always in search of new business clients and non-profit agencies for the class. Her students can do a variety of assignments, such as: design forms, brochures, flyers and newsletters; plan conferences, prepare name tags and handle registration; create and maintain databases; write minutes of meetings; keep financial records; develop business presentations using presentation software; and design and maintain web pages. Businesses and organizations can get more information by calling Wyrick at the school, 341-2365, or sending her an e-mail at dwyrick@usd253.org.