Business/Finance/Media Advisory Board Meeting

October 26, 2016

Lewis “Red” Bean Center

Meeting Minutes

Attendance:

Board Members – Charlie Jennings/Integrated WebWorks, Michael Rathjen/Vystar, Sandra Hayward/CareerSource, Jason Mudd/Axia Public Relations, Melissa Armstrong/FSCJ, Lindsay Durham/Cady Studios, Brent Lemond/NCSB, Anthony Smith/NCSB, Brian Simmons/NCSB, Deondra Hightower/NCSB, Joyce Finley/NCSB, Leah Jennings/NCSB, Mitch Purvis/NCSB, Nicol Stewart/NCSB, Stephanie Landtroop/NCSB, Tammy Roberts/NCSB

Visitor- Ashley Hart/EverFi

Meeting began at 9:08 am.

Minutes were approved.

EverFi Presentation

  • Ms. Hart shared online curriculum that offers different modules covering a variety of topics at no cost to the schools. Programs include financial literacy, STEM, business leadership, and diversity.

Program Reports

  • Fernandina Beach High School – Mitch Purvis shared that yesterday was the first round of certification testing, resulting in an overall pass rate of 65%. Mr. Purvis is teaching Digital Information Technology (DIT) which includes the Microsoft Office Suite. Microsoft bundles include Word, Powerpoint, and Excel Certifications, and after that students can move towards earning Expert Certifications. Stephanie Landtroop teaches Digital Design and TV Production. She shared that she has roughly 97 students in her programs, and has begun a focus on Photoshop training. Included is a requirement for students to become proficient typists. In TV Production, the format has changed so the students are working more towards creating commercials and eventually produce a movie including trailers leading up to the release. The program has three new cameras which has been a huge asset for these projects. Finally, Ms. Landtroop has had huge growth in FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) moving from 9 participants last year up to 38 this year.
  • Hilliard High School – Michelle Stamps was unable to attend today’s meeting, but has already begun her testing for the fall and things are going well. She provided a report showing that last year was even more successful than the prior school year.
  • West Nassau High School – Joyce Finley shared that although FBLA is a lot of work, one of WNHS’s students will be the President of District Four this year. This year she has 51 FBLA students, and she notices that they really enjoy the competition and are recruiting friends to create “teams.” Four students will compete in word processing and she is hopeful for at least one of them to make it to state competition. Ms. Finley teaches Information Technology classes and they are working towards the Microsoft Bundle Certifications. Brian Simmons has 46 students enrolled in Digital Media 2, and 95 students in Digital Media 1. Testing has begun in Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. Photoshop is now testing on the 2015 version which is more difficult and has required some curriculum changes, but it is going well. Tammy Roberts teaches Business and Entrepreneurial Skills, as well as OJT (On the job training.) Her students are learning to create business plans and actually practice the various responsibilities of running a business. She also co-manages the Vystar Credit Union housed at WNHS. Lastly, her program is handling a lot of the public relations projects in the school, including hospitality within the school, and publishing a newsletter and online media.
  • YuleeHigh School – Deondra Hightower instructs Business Education and manages the OJT program. Testing too has begun for Ms. Hightower’s classes and so far roughly 65% of students have achieved certifications. She is also coaching 5 returning students towards earning Expert Certifications. She has 16 OJT students working in various businesses in the area. FBLA currently has 17 Yulee members, and roughly 50% of them have already decided on what competition categories they are going to participate in. Ms. Hightower has already completed fundraisers for FBLA costs, and will continue to organize events towards that funding goal. She has created Peer-Share where her students are sharing their work experiences with their peers, and tying it all into what they’ve learned in class and how it has contributed to their work successes. She’s especially proud of one student who has recently earned a promotion at his job, and attributes his soft-skill successes directly to the curriculum he’s learned in Ms. Hightower’s class. She focuses a lot of attention on the need for strong communication skills, and is happy to see that work paying off for the students. Nicol Stewart is new to our program and has contributed her business background towards FBLA preparation with Ms. Hightower. She is also instructing Business Education. Her classes are comprised of 9th graders who have had reading challenges and so learning these Microsoft Programs allows them to develop skillsets that they might not otherwise get. Roughly 50% of the students have earned certifications so far, and she is encouraged by the progress her students have had so far. Her goal is for these students to earn Microsoft Word before the end of the year, with the objective goal being at least 80%. Ms. Stewart is helping the students develop E-Portfolio’s about their high school experiences and the goals they’ve set up for themselves. They will be updating these each year so that by their senior year, they can reflect on their experiences and also use the information as part of their resume submission process after graduation.
  • Yulee Middle School – Anthony Smith has begun our first CTE program at a middle school, and is focusing a Photoshop Certification course. Students will begin testing on that program, with a hopeful goal of students beginning to learn Adobe Premier. This offers high school level certifications for middle school students.

Strategic Partnerships

  • VyStar Credit Union– Michael Rathjen shared that the school branches are doing very well. He is grateful for the community support and the dedication of the school faculty. WNHS’s branch is currently into its second year, and Vystar is very pleased with the progress. Mr. Rathjen would like to see another school here in Nassau County housing its second Vystar Branch. Understanding that financial literacy is such an important part of a student’s development, and he’d love to see the program expanded here in this area.
  • Business partners – Mr. Lemond tied in these reports with the hopes of business partners to provide presentations for the students, hiring students for internships, and participating in mock interviews or other in-class events. He emphasized that the business partners bring the necessary real-life experiences and soft skill emphasis that the students need to understand before achieving success in their own career paths. Charlie Jennings offered his participation in the classroom exercises focused around hiring and interviewing. Michael Rathjen offered his time to help students with financial literacy training as well as soft skill curriculum. Tammy Roberts has contacts for tax preparation, customer service, and hiring that would be happy to work with various teachers to reinforce those topics. Mr. Jennings spoke of some various speaking techniques and the need for the conversation to involve ad-libbing as well as knowing when to talk more, as well as when to talk less. Jason Mudd shared that to some degree, success in the workplace is more achievable when a person is in a position that is a natural fit with their personality. He implements a 3rd party personality assessment as a part of the hiring process, so that he already knows whether they will thrive with the duties he’d be assigning after hire. He also went on to add that although technical skills are invaluable, if a student is pursuing digital design, they also need to be creative and have opportunities to develop creativity and the ability to be original. Finally, Sandy Hayward also offered for students to tour CareerSource and learn more about the services they offer. Mr. Lemond acknowledged that these skills are vital, and it is equally important to offer the technical skill training and certification so that they are competitive in the post-secondary and/or business community. In many cases, students are not able to get that technical training after high school and yet colleges and employers are expecting proficiency at the time of enrollment or hiring.
  • FSCJ – Melissa Armstrong is working on an Entrepreneur Day that will be held at the end of February. She is always open to different partnerships within HR related subject areas.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:38am.

Respectfully submitted,

Leah Jennings