Crisis or Opportunity?
A Message from CEO Amy Grat
Throughout my ten years as CEO of EXP, I have continually urged our high school students to get out of their comfort zones and take advantage of every opportunity that is offered them.
Many of you who join us as guest speakers, industry mentors and internship supervisors emphasize these same themes when you share your personal career journeys: turn obstacles into opportunities, learn from failures, and rise to challenges. The students listen attentively. Many of them know all too well the reality of obstacles and challenges in their daily lives.
Our industry partners speak often of the skills gaps they see in employees. Sometimes the deficits are technical – a dearth of qualifications and credentials or a mismatched curriculum. But, more often, the skills that are lacking are drawn from character and attitude. Developing these essential skills takes a different type of experience. A practical experience. A push out of that comfort zone. I know, because every summer I see the transformational impact our Internship Program has on the students who participate. They wander into the fall orientation as children and stand tall at culmination in August as young adults, ready for the world of work.
What is it that employers need? What does our society need?
Flexibility. Critical thinking. Creativity. Communication. Teamwork. Grit.
The skills our employers seek in their workforce are the very same skills that are being honed right now at the kitchen table, through Google Classroom, and in the moments of anxiety worrying about final exams, college admissions, summer internships, not to mention personal and community health and safety.
The devastation of the current COVID-19 pandemic is prompting a heightened urgency for strong leadership and inspiration. For enhanced civility and community support. For innovation and entrepreneurship. These days, it can be difficult to see beyond the crisis, to prepare for a brighter future both for industry and the next generation of skilled workers. But we need to be ready for the day when our communities are again healthy and thriving and the economy is booming.
For EXP students and youth everywhere, this crisis is an opportunity to adapt, persevere, and ultimately build the skills that will prepare them for success in school, career and life.
A little over one month ago we hosted our annual Women in STEM Career Day—EXP brought together close to 400 students and 100 women STEM professionals under one tent (literally, a huge tent!) to inspire young women’s college and career dreams. Obviously, today this sort of gathering would be impossible. But, my EXP program team is ever resourceful and the need for our career education programs are more important than ever to help ensure that our students don’t lose ground—or hope—during this crisis.
We have already begun videotaping our Internship Skills Workshops. We now have a new-and-improved Internship Resource Packet that includes tips for video conference interviews and etiquette. We also have just put out the call for virtual guest speakers. We are pushing ourselves out of our own comfort zones to meet the challenge of this crisis and capture the opportunity for innovation.
During this critical time, students need your support of EXP’s services more than ever. As a valued member of EXP’s caring community, please join me to help them realize a better future.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. We are in this together.