Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
February 08, 2017 01:00 AM

High school outreach counselors help prepare students

Bill Bregar
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Rich Williams

    When I went to high school in the late 1970s, it seemed like they expected almost everyone to go on to college. “College Prep” was the buzzword used by my guidance counselor, who also was the head football coach, in our 10-minute meeting to discuss my future.

    Things are changing, I'm pleased to tell you.

    At least that's the case in some schools that are creating community outreach-type positions. The main job of these people: Keep in close contact with local employers — including plastics companies — and find out what skills they need.

    At Brown Deer High School, north of Milwaukee, they set up a new position and named Future Cain as community outreach specialist. It's a half-time position, so for half of each day, Cain, a teacher whose specialty is special education, helps out in those classes as well.

    But the other half of day she's on the phone, and on the road, meeting with local businesses. Cain has a special link to plastics manufacturing — she's the wife of Patrick Cain, plant manager of Milwaukee custom thermoformer General Plastics Inc.

    Cain knows of some other school districts that have made the outreach job a full-time position.

    “In my opinion it will be an invaluable investment in the kids, and in our future and in the community,” she said.

    Her name, Future, perfectly fits the issues facing manufacturing. The future is clouded by an ever-aging workforce thinking about retirement, and the huge challenge of finding young people to replace the baby boomers. Community outreach specialists are common at community colleges and technical schools. But it's clear that every high school should have one.

    And it's not because high school guidance counselors today are doing a bad job (even the ones who coach football).

    Cain said Brown Deer High School has three guidance counselors for nearly 800 students.

    “So any person, in any field if you have 350 people you have to service, it's very difficult to meet every need, every time,” she said.

    Over in northwestern Ohio, Laurie Good at Clyde High School said the same thing.

    “We have wonderful guidance counselors here, but they are swamped,” she said.

    Good is the college and career readiness coordinator. She had 11 years of experience teaching in career technical education in another school district before returning back to her hometown of Clyde to take the newly created position.

    Good teaches five classes a day where students learn about skills that make them employable, like job skills, resume writing, networking, job shadowing … even how to write a thank you note after an interview.

    “Just some really practical skills that as adults we need and unfortunately many of us were not taught that in school,” she said.

    So that's about two-thirds teaching, then one-third for outreach.

    Companies need young people with “hard skills” like technical know-how, but just as important, “soft skills” like working with a team and communication.

    Then there are the Life 101 skills. Get to work on time. Work hard. As a baby boomer myself, when I was 16, nobody had to “teach” me these “skills.” Nobody had to tell me to go wash dishes. The newly opened York Steak House at the mall was the hardest job I would ever have, and I knew it even then.

    Good teaches it all. She was planning some sessions on debt — a big issue for the college bound. And she said that employers strongly support the high school.

    “Every single company we've gone to has open arms and is willing to help us out in any way that they can,” Good said.

    She makes a key point about young people: They need to make a good decision within the first couple of years out of high school.

    “If you don't have a good understanding of what you want to do, that's when you have problems,” Good said.

    Bregar is a Plastics News senior reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @MachineryBeat25.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    There's no Iron Throne, but POY winner gets a nice trophy
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Industry sees Biden bioplastics goal as serious signal
    2
    Biden sets US goal to replace 90% of plastics with biomaterials
    3
    Material Insights: Challenges for Biden bioplastics goal
    4
    Official says Norfolk Southern fire likely started in rail car containing resin
    5
    Trinseo: Equipment failure blamed for latex emulsion leak
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified