By Mark Ambrogi
As Indiana Gov. Mike Pence travels the state, jobs is often a focal point of discussions.
“Just as often I would find people that would say we can’t find people to fill the jobs that we have,” Pence said. “Experts will call it skills gap.”
Pence then learned how many high schools no longer have vocational training programs. Pence, a 1977 Columbus North High School graduate, recalled how he had many friends attend the vocational training at his school.
“We walked through the same doors and cheer for same basketball team,” Pence said at the Hamilton County Leadership Academy luncheon on Jan. 22 at Carmel’s Oak Hill Mansion. “Some of them were my best friends and have now finished 30 years at Cummins Engine. Some like to remind me that if you add up their income and my income they’ve done significantly better than me.”
So Pence encourages more schools to have vocational training prior to the Workforce Development panel at the luncheon. Beth Meguschar, assistant principal for curriculum and instruction at Noblesville High School, discussed what her school is already doing in that regard as a panel member.
Along with NHS Principal Jeff Bryant and Internship Coordinator Susie Wiersema, Meguschar has been instrumental in developing programs to enhance workforce readiness skills and increase the school’s partnership with area businesses and training programs.
“Like a lot of Hamilton County schools, we’ve always done an excellent job preparing students for college,” Megushar said. Then a couple of years ago at CEO summit sponsored by the City of Noblesville, Meguschar said the school’s leadership team met with local business leaders.
“That’s where we began to hear about the skills gap and some of the workplace needs in our community,” she said. “That was really eye-opening for us and it was nice to get outside of academia to hear the needs in our community and sort of rethink what kind of programming we had at our school.”
Meguschar said the school launched its internship program about the same time.
“That first year we had 25 seniors in just a handful of businesses,” Meguschar said. “The district recognized the potential for internships to get real world experience for our kids. So they allowed us to get a full-time internship coordination.”
Under Wiersema’s guidance, the high school placed about 175 seniors into 41 partnering businesses the past fall.
“We have interns at Riverview (Health) and St.Vincent’s, Gaylor Electric, Helmer Scientific,” Meguschar said. “To echo what Gov. Pence was talking about, a lot of work we have been doing recently is in the area of technical education and that’s because mingling with our business partners, we saw there was a need to really grow some of those programs.”
One of the first partnerships launched was with Associated Builders and Contractors of Indiana, where some students go a couple of times a week to be taught construction-related skills, Meguschar said.
Meguschar said the school is also placing students in SMC Corporation, which manufactures pneumatics and is headquartered in Noblesville. NHS also is partnering with Hare Chevrolet and Lincoln Tech to develop a two-year program to develop technicians, diesel technology and collision repair.
“We are looking for opportunities for our kids where they exist and where they don’t exist, we look for partners to help us build them,” Meguschar said.
