Owatonna schools spotlight local employers in long 'mission moment' about career pathways
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Summary
At the Owatonna Public School District board meeting, district leaders and about 16 local businesses described partnership activities that give students workplace exposure, internships and hands-on learning tied to the district's career pathways program.
At the Owatonna Public School District board meeting, district leaders used the mission-moment portion of the agenda to showcase partnerships between schools and roughly 16 local businesses and nonprofits that supported career pathways and student internships.
District staff said this year's mission-moment theme is "partnership," and described an expansion of last year's visits to industry: teachers self-selected among eight tours at two sites so they could take what they saw back into the classroom. "We started last year with getting our staff out to visit industry to kinda see how they can partner with different organizations," one district presenter said.
The partners who spoke represented manufacturers, insurers, health care, nonprofits and public safety. Ryan Kubachek of Advantage Cabinets said some teachers engaged with the shop's design staff and identified ways to link cabinet-design work to classroom courses. Michelle Redmond of Big Brothers Big Sisters told the board that school partnerships are essential to the nonprofit's work and urged community members to consider mentoring; she told the board the organization has about 356 youth currently waiting to be matched with mentors.
Representatives from Federated Insurance described an internship program that has led to hires from Owatonna High School; John Chample of Life Fitness summarized a collaboration with the industrial technology and welding program that produced bike racks for elementary schools; and Olmsted Medical Center staff said their entry into the community has included hiring people familiar with Owatonna.
Other presenters included Lakeside Foods, Olympic Fire Protection/public utilities, Steele County Community Corrections, United Way and local mental-health providers. Steele County Community Corrections described teacher sessions about career paths in probation and how those careers overlap with law enforcement. Nonprofit partners described soft skills and community programs such as a teen center that staff toured.
Board members praised the partnerships and noted the role they play in connecting students to career opportunities, internships and local hiring pipelines. The district framed the tours as a way for educators to see real-world applications of classroom learning and to develop new classroom activities and internship opportunities.
The presentations collectively emphasized that the district's career-pathways work is built on local partnerships across industry, health care, nonprofit and public-safety sectors. Several speakers said they plan to continue or expand collaborations with Owatonna schools.