Businesses pair up with students at Deer Lakes Middle School to learn about their day

A different type of water cooler conversation took place at Deer Lakes Middle School on Thursday.

Instead of the usual teachers and staffers, students in grades six through eight had the opportunity to chat with adult visitors from a variety of companies about their jobs.

The event was part of “Companies in the Classroom,” a Consortium for Public Education program that pairs local business and higher education representatives with middle and high school students to learn more about their education and what’s being offered to them in the classroom.

In turn, students can learn about career options and pathways and what businesses look for when they’re hiring.

“They don’t really otherwise have an opportunity to see what schools are doing well, what students are learning and how they can really align those things to what’s happening and needed for businesses,” said Debbie Pixton, program director for the consortium. “We hope that this will be a launch point for those companies to really partner with the school to better align their needs with what their students are learning, and also to help students better understand what they can expect in the workforce.”

Pixton said one of the things companies look for in future employees are soft skills, which include teamwork, dependability, adaptability, conflict resolution, problem solving and leadership.

This program can help students develop the soft skills most desirable to employers by letting teachers know what those are.

“That’s what they want them coming in with, because they can teach the hard skills,” Pixton said. “They can teach how to use a machine or how to learn a software program. But it’s really hard to teach an adult how to have empathy or how to talk to another human.”

Marie Pelloni of FortyX80 was one of the business representatives who visited the middle school. She was “super impressed” by what she saw going on in the classrooms.

Not only were the students taught critical thinking, analytical and problem solving skills, one of the teachers was adamant about the students showing him respect, Pelloni said.

“He was like, ‘You have to respect. You have to look me in the eye. You have to shake my hand,’ ” Pelloni said. “(That’s) really important for the workplace and not only for his classroom. They’re doing a great job.”

Seventh-grader Samuel Guthrie was paired with Pelloni. He said the visit allowed him to learn about career paths he hadn’t heard of before.

“It definitely opens up really big windows or opportunities just for future anything,” said Samuel, 13.

John White of CVS shadowed sixth-grader Michael Gbur. White said it was cool to see how teaching methods have changed since he was in school.

“There’s more focus on teamwork and them working together as opposed to you get a piece of paper and you have to do your own work,” White said. “They got to collaborate a lot more.”

Pelloni said the program is a great first step to connect students and employers. But she would like to see more opportunities offered to them, such as students being able to email outside professionals.

“I always want to see it just go a little further,” she said.

White said the program is good for both students and employers because it teaches employers that students learn differently now, and gives students the opportunity to ask questions and learn.

“It’s never too early to start learning,” White said. “The choices I make now will affect me in the future.”