During a normal year , students participating in the program would receive in-person classroom instruction within those industries , and also participate in paid experiences at employer sites .
Katherine Fischenich , Youth Skills Training Program Specialist at the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry , said the program has faced a number of challenges during the 2020 / 2021 school year as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic .
“ Students have been unable to do some of the in-class work they would normally do , and then the paid work had limitations as well . Many companies couldn ’ t bring on students for paid work when they were laying off their own employees ,” she said .
Fortunately , technology was able to come to the rescue to keep the program going . Fischenich says NEME and a lot of other similar programs throughout the state were able to get online platforms up and running so they could continue to get students certified , do virtual tours and have virtual meetings .
VHEDC ’ s NE Metro Manufacturing Education Partnership , in particular , is planning to have students in paid experiences in Summer 2021 . Rich Wessels , Youth Skills Training Program Manager at the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry , said he is very encouraged by how program managers have stepped up to keep the program going at a time when it is so needed .
“ VHEDC ’ s NE Metro Manufacturing Partnership is in the second year of a two-year $ 100,000 Youth Skills Training Grant from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry . Not only did they come up with alternative ways to provide students with certifications , they really focused on setting their school districts up for the future with the remaining time on their grant ,” he said .
“ They have really worked hard to set up marketing and advertising for those districts to carry on the program , even when the funding is terminated ,” added Fischenich .
VHEDC Board member Cindy O ’ Donovan serves as Program Coordinator for the NE Metro
Manufacturing Education Partnership . She pointed out there was no choice but to come up with alternatives in order to keep the program going when the pandemic struck .
“ There was no flexibility in the timing due to legislative parameters on the grant . Faced with changing situations and mandates , school distance learning programs , and employer work restrictions , we had to adapt . So , we shifted our priority to figuring out how to develop a structure that the school districts can use for the future , while building employer connections and relationships to involve students differently ,” said O ’ Donovan .
One of the biggest challenges participating companies have faced is
Youth Skills
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Connecting Manufacturing Employers with High School Students Who are Interested in Learning and Exploring Opportunities in the Field of Manufacturing .
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comcom the safety and exposure component . “ Some companies were very closed to the idea of allowing anyone but essential workers to come in , and understandably so ,” said O ’ Donovan .
Participating schools also faced challenges due to COVID-related restrictions . “ The program is considered a school learning opportunity . Thus , we had to follow the state educational guidelines of when and where students could go ,” said Jenny Moore , Career Pathways Coordinator for White Bear Lake Area Schools .
Since students were in a distance learning situation for most of the 2020- 2021 school year , the NEME program had to adapt as well . As a result , Westfall Technik of Willernie , which
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