Every school has clubs and activities that the student body can take part in, but I would venture to say that KO’s opportunities are varied and enriching. The KO administration implements numerous programs and initiatives to improve student life and the school overall and within the past years, KO has been bringing internship and job opportunities to the students.
Assistant Director of College Advising Peggy Clark and math Deparment Chair Sandy Goss partnered to create unique chances for students to dip their toes into different career paths and learn about jobs. “We wanted to bring internship and shadow opportunities to the students because it seems that they have no true sense of what options are out there for them or what blends well with their interests,” Ms. Goss said.
In the past KO has organized a “career walk” which allows students from not only KO but from neighboring private schools in the area to walk around West Hartford Center and meet with business owners and entrepreneurs to discuss different career paths.
Last year’s walk met with employees of Grants and learned about the restaurant industry as well as meeting with Charles Schwab to learn about investing. Ms. Goss said that while the students are not likely to leave the walk knowing exactly what they want to do with their career they will get some exposure which is the whole initiative behind these programs.
Kingswood partners with Junior Achievement (JA), a national non profit organization whose mission statement is “to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.”
Partnering up with this organization has been instrumental in the creating and bringing of these internship opportunities to the KO campus. “They have set up a ton of shadow programs for the students and has helped us network with business owners around Hartford County to produce these programs” Ms. Goss said.
JA even brought specialists in HR from nearby companies to come and teach students interview skills as well as how to build a resume. These skills are extremely important for students to learn and master and JA has brought various beneficial programs to KO, many of which the students have found great success from.
