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By Chloe Johnson
November 18, 2016 - “The real world starts here” is
a phrase that every student at Dayton Regional STEM School (DRSS) hears and
sees as soon as they walk through the doors. As a junior, students will take a
Technical Reading and Writing course. This class teaches students a style of
writing that is concise but specific.
During the second quarter, juniors were
introduced to professional/business communication. This type of writing is used
in a business setting between employers and employees. At first, students
created career exploration reports. The purpose of these reports was to analyze
potential career fields and locate potential internships related to the
careers, which each student must complete before they graduate. Next,
students created resumes to use in their future endeavors.
To begin the unit on resumes,
students listened to a presentation by Nikki Greenwood on November 1st
and 2nd. During the presentation, Ms. Greenwood addressed what a
resume is, explained what different types of resumes look like, what a cover letter is, and how to
effectively use a portfolio.
Ms. Greenwood said, “Resumes are living breathing
documents.” This means the resumes will change over the course of the students’
lives as they experience more employment opportunities. Some of Ms. Greenwood’s
tips included: add things that make you stand out, always update the resume,
look at the job requirements and speak to those, and send a thank you note
after interviews to make them remember you.
Once the students listened to
the presentation, they started brainstorming about potential experiences to
include in their resumes. During this activity, students were free to include
all of their high school experiences and instructed to include any middle
school experience. If students participated in
clubs or activities that continued from middle school to high school, such as
Girl Scouts/Boy Scouts, they were encouraged to include this in their resume.
Taryn
Hughes, a junior at DRSS, said, “I included that I was a part of Key Club, but
most of the activities I do are outside of STEM.” A majority of students in the
junior class participate in extracurricular activities, both in and outside of
school. These activities included: sports, robotics, work experiences, clubs at
STEM, DRSS Newsroom, Key Club (an organization for volunteering), and more.
There
were three types of resumes that were presented including skill-based, reverse
chronological, or a hybrid of the two. When brainstorming for the resumes, the
students tailored their resumes to a specific internship location, so this is
how they made their decisions to choose which experiences to include.
Mrs. McDaniel, the
Technical Reading and Writing teacher, then gave a presentation on the requirements
for the resume. All students needed to include an objective, contact
information, experiences, and two optional sections. These optional sections
could include: study abroad, languages, hobbies & interests, volunteering,
certifications, honors & awards, etc.
For the next two weeks, students worked
on revising the content within their resumes and formatting their information.
The information must fit onto one page, and it could not be "scrunched up."
Furthermore, all students received feedback from Mrs. McDaniel and their peers.
The final due date for the resumes was Wednesday, November 16, 2016. Afterwards,
the students will move on to creating cover letters during their professional/business
communications unit. The school's focus on "soft skills," such as resume writing, is just one of the examples of how DRSS prepares students for success in their future careers.
