Last month I hosted a job shadow for some of our RPS 205 Business Academy students, and it was awesome!
I was excited to host these students, because I have a background in graphic design and marketing. I spent two days with two groups of students discussing design and doing a hands-on exercise. The students were great and very engaged.
Over both days I had students in multiple pathways: three in Graphic Design, two in Studio Art and two in IT. At first, I was a little worried about the non-graphic design students being interested, but I was pleasantly surprised. The students who were more focused on coding and the IT side, had great eyes for design.
The hands-on exercises I planned for them was to create a mood board for one of our elementary schools. Specifically, the Rolling Green Rockets – because, who doesn’t love rockets? During the exercise we discussed the importance of key words and how they can help shape a school’s brand. We looked at logos, illustration styles, photography styles, fonts and colors.
Both groups ended up with two versions of mood boards, because they were torn on which direction to go:
The group from day one ended up with what we called: 1. The colorful, fun version and 2. The neutral, more serious version.
The group from day two had: 1. The vibrant cartoon version and 2. The more serious geometric version.
My favorite part of both days was watching the students’ thought process and how both groups came up with similar, yet very different mood boards.
I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience and recently received a few thank you notes from the students:
Kate was really nice in talking to us and informing us about her job that she does for a living. She even showed us her portfolio and did a fun and engaging activity with Auburn & Jefferson students. I really loved the experience.CEAVONYAE, AUBURN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
I had so much fun and I learned a lot. Thank you for this opportunity. I am very grateful and thank you for the snacks.
Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to do this job shadow.AHJAHNAE, AUBURN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
I am so happy they felt like there was value in the experience. I highly recommend local businesses host a job shadow. It is a great way to connect with the next generation of employees and see how excited they are about their future. I totally plan on participating in the job shadows again next year!
Kate Specht
is a graphic designer and the Marketing Coordinator for RPS 205. She was born and raised in Rockford attending Welsh Elementary School, West Middle School and Auburn and Jefferson high schools. In her free time Kate loves to pursue anything art and design-related, from painting and quilting to baking elaborate desserts for family and friends.