I began my adventure with Lenoir Community College Monday morning. I met my mentor, Gary Clements, and we talked about how we would like for the internship to progress and what we would like to accomplish. He followed up with a tour of campus and introductions with many of the Deans in the differing departments. As we toured through the different buildings and met with instructors, I was amazed by what the college had to offer in terms of programs and classes. Each professor shared with me what their program focus was, what types of classes they covered, and potential job locations and salaries that accompanied that type of degree. The range of programs here is simply amazing.

After visiting the virtual patients in the Health Science department – I knew I had to get my students on campus and in these labs. Once we saw the welding and composite rooms, stocked with incredible technology and machines – even a virtual welding simulator, that need to get the students here was even stronger. Here are some of the ideas that came to me as we completed that tour:

1. Students need to be here on campus, talking to theses professors, and hearing about what they can do with these career options to better their futures.

2. Students need to find what topics/careers interest them. Not just, “I want to be a nurse”, but what possible track they could really pursue. Possible options could be LPN, RN, Medical Assisting in surgery or ER, working with chart documentation, working in Radiography with X-rays, massage therapy, Polysomnography assisting with sleep studies, working and assisting in labs, or even office administration. Students need to delve deeper into career options and find out what is really out there.

3. Students must maintain 77% for certain programs or they will be removed. What are we teaching them when they are promoted with failing averages and have little to no work ethic?

4. Students must be accepted into many of these programs based on a ‘point system’. They have to be aware of this much earlier and begin building this resume.

5. I would like to possibly ‘track’ my students in the STEM lab based on interest. This might be insanely difficult to set up, but I feel it would be well worth the hassle. I can definitely start with interest surveys, learning style tests, and some career exploration.

6. I want to have a job fair at our school, hosted by our students, and presented to our parents and community. This will be based around our Community College course offerings along with full job descriptions, degree requirements, and possible job locations and salaries. This has the potential to not only increase student college participation, but potentially pull members from the community back into the classroom and learning new trades and skills.  I would like to have faculty from the college there and members from financial resources to talk to adults about options as well. (Super excited to develop this idea and event!)

7. We have to make sure these students are leaving us with the skills and pre-requisites they need to be successful. We have to communicate better with each other across the schools and grade levels (middle to high, high to college, etc) to ensure that this is happening. What are they lacking across the transitions? What are the top skills that we can begin building to erase some of those barriers? How can we do better?!

….So keep in mind, this is all before 11:00am on my first day…I’m already trying to map out a plan to save the world lol! But why not – that’s what educators and Kenan Fellows are for!!

To conclude our tour, we stopped by the robotics department. This is where I will spend my first week, working with Mr. David Jones. I was ‘introduced’ to some incredible technology and robotic arms, and again, my mind went to racing. I immediately started thinking of real world connections that could be made and grand challenges for my students to start tackling. I had to ‘pump the brakes’ a little bit, as this was just my introduction – and there were other ‘center’ for me to visit off campus. Who knew that LCC had four other centers where classes were held, and additional connections and partner schools. I was yet again impressed by what our local Community College had to offer. Simply amazing! Tuesday will begin my real journey in the robotics department, and I am looking forward to learning all that it has to offer – not just me, but my students as well.