ZACH STICH / DAILY JOURNAL
NOT QUITE OFF THE CLOCK: When not in the workplace, students in the work-based learning course work in the classroom on different assignments that involve learning about workplace attitude, attendance and appearance. Working as an intern Monday through Thursday, the class is given an opportunity on Friday’s to have different seminars about workplace issues at different local businesses.
CLASS
Continued from page Page 43
254872
Complete Auto & Light Truck Repairs • Custom Exhaust • Tow & Shuttles
Established 1980. 130 years of combined experience 3100 S. Pebble Lake Rd Fergus Falls, MN 56537
44 Progress 2020
218-736-6229 www.pebblelakeauto.com
work topic for the week,” Enderson said. Businesses that host the seminar component are given the topic for that week and are given the opportunity to construct how they want to present their business. Enderson stated that many give tours of the business’s operations and then will meet with students to discuss the seminar topic with a Q&A portion at the end. Businesses that had internships were selected by Enderson as she reached out to see who was interested in having a student-intern. Due to the class being new, there was a small selection of businesses to choose from, as Enderson reached out through meetings, emails and telephone. But after a successful first run, she has been approached by other businesses with the future looking bright. “I am so amazed at how receptive the community has been and if there is not a barrier of confidentiality, the community has really embraced this. I would love to have bulletin boards around all the different areas of the school showing these types of opportunities stating
these are the internship opportunities that we have,” Enderson said.
Students In the fall of 2019, Enderson’s class was made up of 11 students working internships. Shane Wahlund, a senior at KSS, decided to take the class after one of his interests fell through. “I had taken accounting my junior year and wanted to take Accounting 2 my senior year,” Wahlund said. “But there was just not enough interest. My teacher Ms. Appert told me about this class and I was like ‘Hey, this would be cool,’ and it fit in my schedule.” Wahlund would work at Nelson Auto Center in Fergus Falls working in the office with accounts payable and receivable. Owner Laurel Nelson is a big supporter of the work-based learning class. “We are very enthusiastic about the high school intern program,” Nelson said. “We have a learning environment that can give real-life context to the content they are learning in the classroom. Oftentimes the student does not see the value or reality of the concepts they are taught from a textbook or a teacher. The community and business environment can provide the actual examples of the