OHS prepares students for tough economic times

Orion High School strives to prepare its students to succeed in difficult times, according to Chris Baumann, director of vocational education.

In this day and age, students need to be lifelong learners, she said.

“The key is education,” Baumann said. “You’re going to have to have some advanced training past high school.”

Further training does not need to include a four-year college degree, she said.

Some can obtain certificates or degrees in 18 months or two months, Baumann said.
A welding degree may take only six months to get, she said.

Students are encouraged to do some research and find out which jobs will be available in the future, Baumann said.

They also have to think about whether they want to stay in the area or move away, she said.

OHS  gives senior students a chance to experience on-the-job training through its cooperative education program.

Baumann teaches a class for co-op students. She stresses they need to be on their “A” game at all times, especially with workplace ethics and workplace skills.

Student employees know they have to do what the employer expects, Baumann said.

Co-op students understand they have to be on time, she said. If they are going to be late, or if they need time off, they have to call and let the employer know.

While on the job, they cannot use their cell phones to call families and friends. If someone they know comes into the workplace, they cannot visit.

In this economy, students not only compete with other students for part-time jobs, they also have to compete with adults who have lost full-time jobs, she said.

It used to be that employers felt a connection with employees, Baumann said. An employee who had been with a company 40 years might not be willing to learn new skills or a new computer program. The company would find another assignment for the employee.

Now companies replace such employees, she said. If the boss asks an employee to go through training in Chicago, or asks if the employee will learn a new accounting program, the employee says sure.

“The more things you can do for a company, the more valuable you’re going to be,” Baumann said.

In an environment when jobs change every two or three years, workers need to be lifelong learners, she said.

Baumann has 38 seniors in co-op this year. In addition to working half a day, they take a 40-minute class from her, plus four other classes. Co-op students have no study halls.

Some students squeeze in one more class by taking early-bird Spanish, which meets before the school day officially begins.

To track how OHS  graduates do out in the real world, Baumann surveys them one year and five years after graduation.

She is wrapping up the five-year survey of the Class of 2004. So far, she has heard from 53 to the 93 graduates. To get a response rate of 80 percent, she is contacting parents and other family members to find out what graduates are doing.

The survey asks what classes the students took at OHS and what further education they have had since then.

Forty-eight of the 53 took career and technical education classes at OHS. A whopping 94 percent were involved in extracurricular activities.

Since graduation, the members of the Class of 2004 “have been really busy,” Baumann said.

Sixty-eight percent are employed full time. Eleven percent are working part time while in school, and six percent are employed in part-time jobs and not in school.

Another 7 1/2 percent are still full-time students, and 7 1/2 percent are in the military.

Every one of the 53 graduates is either in school or on the job, Baumann said.

They are establishing careers in fields from agriculture to architecture, she said.

The most common careers for the 2004 graduates are science, technology, engineering, math, health science and business, Baumann said.

Results help OHS learn whether it is teaching the right courses for the careers they want, she said.

The survey asks if the career the student has chosen is the career they anticipated in high school.

An amazing 75 percent of the 2004 graduates said yes, Baumann said.

Some changed direction because they had babies, or their parents got divorced and had no money for their further education, she said.

Some graduates invite OHS  to bring students on tours of their workplaces, Baumann said. Some, such as a graduate serving on a nuclear submarine, are willing to exchange e-mail with students.

Asked how they rate the education they received at OHS, 85 percent say it was good or excellent.

The bottom line from the most recent survey? Eighty-nine percent are happy where they’re at.