MSI Mechanical Systems receives National Supportive Contractor Recognition.

The MSI Mechanical Systems Inc. “School-to-Career” Partnership is multiple state-wide efforts assisting local schools and communities to develop a learning system that promotes the attainment of high academic standards, career development, and workforce preparation for every student.  Many schools and school districts in Massachusetts and New Hampshire use this resource to sustain the school-work partnership within their schools.

School-to-Career (STC) is an initiative - a philosophy - a method of offering relevant curriculum to students that links what they learn in the classroom to what they will do after graduation. Children learn better when information is made relevant. STC ensures that relevancy is brought to light by linking their schoolwork to workplace realities.

School-to-Career bridges the world of school to the world of work by linking school-based activities such as classroom speakers, tutors, mentors, and professional development curricula with real-world work activities. Work reality is infused into the standard course of study through the collaboration of the business community and classroom teachers.

MSI’s pursuit of high academic standards and vocational training has focused attention on motivating students to excel in school and to make wise career choices. School-to-Career directly reinforces a school system's high academic achievement goals: more students at or above grade level, fewer students dropping out of school, and more students going on to postsecondary education or training.

Mission

MSI’s School-to-Career mission is to prepare every student to make responsible, productive career choices and manage the challenges of accelerated change in the workplace by bridging school-based and work-based activities.

This requires a systematic, comprehensive, community-wide effort to give young people the opportunity to:

• Prepare for meaningful careers by pursuing a clearly identifiable, accessible, and attractive pathway into the workplace.

• Receive top-quality, integrated academic and career/technical instruction

• Gain the foundation skills needed to pursue postsecondary education and other lifelong learning.

• Experience work-based learning while in school.

School-to-Career Involves:

Teachers - who work to integrate relevance into the core curriculum and maintain academic rigor throughout class work.

School System Administrators - who enable School-to-Career activities to take place at schools throughout their districts.

Students - who participate in career fairs, job shadowing, internships, and other school-to-career activities.

Businesspeople and Employer Representatives - who serve as a resource for teachers and administrators to support School-to-Career activities such as job shadowing, internships, and classroom speakers.

Parents - who see the benefits of their children participating in School-to-Career activities

Essential Principles of School-to-Career:

• Promote high standards of academic learning and performance for all young people.

• Incorporate industry-valued standards that help inform curricula and lead to respected, portable credentials.

• Provide opportunities for contextual learning.

• Help to create smaller, more effective learning environments.

• Expand opportunities for all young people and expose them to a broad array of career opportunities.

• Provide program continuity between High School and postsecondary education and training.

• Provide work-based learning that is directly tied to classroom learning.

• Assist employers in providing high-quality work-based learning opportunities.

• Connect young people with supportive adults, mentors, and other role models.

Benefits to Employers
STC programs benefit employers by opening a direct communication channel that provides the ability to affect needed change within the curricula thus insuring the growth of a quality employee talent pool from which to draw. In addition to assuring current and portable credentials for the student, the employer will directly affect the training of more highly skilled and educated entry-level employees. This will result in lower training costs for the employer.

Benefits to Students
STC programs help students choose a career goal that leads to a good job in our community. Students will have more opportunities to enroll in a four-year or community college or enter the skilled workforce directly from high school. Students earn higher starting salaries because they are more productive.

Benefits to Teachers
STC programs help encourage students who might not otherwise be successful in high school. Dropout rates and discipline problems decline, math and English scores improve, and attendance increases for participating students.

Benefits to the Community
STC programs offer a partnership between schools and the community at large. By establishing these linkages, we provide support in strengthening relationships between students, teachers, and community members from all walks of life.

These linkages and partnerships serve as the foundation for:

• Improving the lives of people of all ages.

• Strengthening individuals, families, neighborhoods, and communities.

• Building awareness of the value of school-workplace partnerships to the greater society.

What is this worth?
We cannot quantify the goodwill and positive working relationships of working with our schools and community. The program improvements and information sharing resulting from these relationships may be priceless. We can, however, try to quantify the many hours of volunteerism that make it all work.

When students sit in a classroom and wonder, "When am I ever going to use this information?" the real world can seem very distant. To receive a top-notch education, they need to see the relevancy of rigorous academic study to their own lives.

MSI’s goal for “School-to-Career” is to bring students, businesses, communities, schools, and families together to form partnerships. These partnerships offer many opportunities for students, educators, business leaders, and community members - from job shadowing experiences to formal, long-term curriculum improvements. A better-educated, more productive workforce will help build more prosperous communities and a more enlightened culture.

In order to more effectively cultivate talent in the building professions and trades, MSI Mechanical Systems has become the first New Hampshire partner of the ACE Mentor Program of America, Inc. MSI is starting an ACE chapter at Windham High School to be their first student-mentor pilot program starting in the Fall of 2010.

ACE is an acronym for architecture, construction, and engineering. The program's mission is to enlighten and increase the awareness of high school students about career opportunities in architecture, construction, and engineering and related areas of the design and construction industry through mentoring; and to provide scholarship opportunities for students in an inclusive manner reflective of the diverse school population. Brian Hooper and Tom Hooper of MSI will serve as the leaders and main contacts of the ACE Mentor Program in New Hampshire. Contact bhooper@msimechanical.com or thooper@msimechanical.com