Collaboration, connections and positive relationships are at the center of a new initiative at EHOVE Career Center, and the high school students have played a key role in it all. This May, Friday Experience will be officially launched. The students say it’s a chance to try something new outside of their comfort zone. School administrators note it’s a unique way for students to gather crucial life skills, make new connections with people and businesses, and learn more about the community and what it offers.
Friday Experience consists of EHOVE high school students selecting an activity in which they’d like to participate on Friday, May 3. Options include volunteering with OHgo, working with professional fitness trainers at T3 Performance, learning how to golf at Thunderbird Hills Golf Course, touring the islands to learn about the local history, visiting Bellwether Farms to learn about farm animals and their care, and about 20 other opportunities to get involved with new skills and area businesses and organizations.
“We heard from our students that they want new ways to get involved and meet more students when they come to EHOVE,” said Assistant Director Matt Ehrhardt. “Building those resources and strong culture will be an asset to our students now but also in their careers and life. Once you have connections and relationships, you have belonging which leads to confidence, wanting to be involved, and having a purpose.”
Ehrhardt added that Butler Tech in Cincinnati has been successfully running a similar program and helped EHOVE get started on building its own program. “As we look to the future of education, we understand it is very important for our students to have opportunities outside the four walls of our classrooms and labs. This effort can give them the opportunity to create potential lifelong learning and friendships based upon previously undiscovered and quality interests.
EHOVE Criminal Justice students Leanna Marianek (Perkins HS), Tyson Raymond (Bellevue HS) and Sancea Torres (Edison HS) got involved with the initiative through a SkillsUSA project that they created and have also named Friday Experience. SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. The Ohio chapter provides high school students the opportunity to participate in local, regional, state and national competitive events, and encourages students to give back to the community through various community service activities.
“We had three ambitious students who wanted to take on a challenging project, and they dove right in,” said Criminal Justice Instructor Tony Dauch who noted that the students have been instrumental in providing the student perspective on the program and communicating about it to the student body.
Marianek, Raymond and Torres developed specific objectives and goals that focus on promoting collaboration with area businesses and organizations, strengthening connection to the community, and building student relationships and a strong school culture, all to promote a healthy school environment and more varied opportunities for students’ resumes and well-being. “This is not your normal school day,” said Raymond. “It’s another way we can get more life skills to succeed in the future.”
The students also wrote a script and were featured in a video about Friday Experience that introduced the program to all of their fellow high school students. It can also be seen on EHOVE’s primary Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn pages.
They have been working on the project since late September and will be presenting it in the Community Service team category at the 2024 SkillsUSA State Championships in Columbus on April 9. If they place well, they’ll also be able to present it at SkillsUSA’s National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta, Georgia at the end of June.
Torres said the team chose to focus on Friday Experience for their project because it fit into the SkillsUSA framework of those same concepts for one’s career and life. “Our project checked off those elements by addressing integrity, accountability, work ethic, self-motivation, adaptability, communication and professionalism.”
Future plans for Friday Experience include implementing them monthly for the 2024-2025 school year and expanding the offerings through even more businesses and organizations. “We’re excited to see how Friday Experience helps our school build itself up even higher,” said Marianek.