BUSINESS PARTNERS
GOCAPS For Business Partners
GOCAPS is always seeking business involvement from companies large and small. Besides those companies hosting students on site, GOCAPS needs guest speakers, projects for students to learn by doing, field trips to workplaces of all kinds where students can learn by observing, and more.
GOCAPS DEVELOPS TALENT BY:
- Using curricula that reflects industry trends and needs
- Helping students identify passions at an early stage
- Developing technical and professional skills before high school graduation
- Promoting “anywhere” learning and teaching
- Partnering educators and companies for real-world learning
- Placing students in real business environments
Businesses seeking more information on becoming involved with GOCAPS may contact James Kincheloe, Coordinator of GOCAPS, at 417-991-2312 or email coordinator@gocapslakeregion.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the ages of the students that can attend GOCAPS?
The GOCAPS program is available to high school juniors and seniors.
When do students attend the GOCAPS program?
Students will meet at the business partners’ work sites for 2 ½ hours five days a week all year.
Do you have to be a partner site to be involved?
No! The GOCAPS program depends on business partners across the region involved in a variety of ways, from classroom presentations to providing projects for students. See below for more ways to get involved.
How will taking part in the GOCAPS program affect my insurance?
Each student is covered by her/his home district’s insurance policy as long as she is at the business during school hours.
Is GOCAPS a trade school or vocational program?
No. Trade schools and vocational programs offer important training on specific industry skills. At GOCAPS, students deeply explore professions of interest through an immersive experience in which local and regional business partners work with highly skilled instructors to provide authentic exposure and skill acquisition in high demand/high skill fields.
What Does it Mean to be a GOCAPS Business Partner?
GOCAPS was created to connect students to careers. The best way to make this happen is to expose our students to a vast array of businesses in our region. We know you are seeking the best talent for future employees and we strive to create a pipeline for this to happen. Whether students enter the workforce immediately after high school, go on to seek certification or pursue a four year degree (or beyond), we want to bridge the gap between high school student skills and the skills you need for your workforce.
We have two strands of study that our students explore: Medicine and Health Care, Business and Entrepreneur and Engineering and Manufacturing. We expose them to the numerous career possibilities in these broad areas to make them aware of opportunities they didn’t know existed in their own back yard. This is only successful with guidance from our business partners. Many provide curriculum input, facility tours, expert guest speakers, job showing experiences and real-world client problems for our students to solve.
At times business partners are at a loss when thinking about projects they can give to our students. In most instances, companies have a top 10 list of problems to tackle, but perhaps the 9th and 10th items are never addressed due to lack of time. These are the projects we are looking to address. When you take groups of high school student evaluating a business issue, you will be surprised at the diverse ideas they develop. Just keep in mind that we do NOT want mission critical projects and that we are also working within a public school system calendar which does include blocks of vacation time.
Just as you check in with your teams at work for updates and feedback, we ask that you do the same for our student projects. We continuously work with our students on professional skills and they are evaluated on their ability to communicate, collaborate, to be creative, to think critically and to be accountable for themselves and their time.
Our consortium of 5 school districts works to provide equal access for a diverse group of students with different backgrounds and experiences. Our purpose is to introduce them to the work setting and help them learn and grow. Students, just like employees, are not perfect. If issues arise, we fully expect that you will share concerns with the students and instructor. We want to prepare our students to meet industry expectations and display appropriate workplace behavior.
From an economic perspective, our goal is to educate students on career opportunities in this area with the hope that we can shape our own home-grown talent pool. This is truly an investment in the future of our regional economy.
Time is your most precious resource and we greatly appreciate your commitment to our GOCAPS students. You offer unique learning experiences for them and provide an avenue to explore their interests and find their passion.