Learn While You Earn: RISE

Ashlyn Smith, on the left and Presley Wood, on the right, stand outside of UNC Health ready for their first day of their internship through the RISE program. Smith is currently working with Watauga Surgical Group and will work with App Ortho in the spring. “Even though it's only the first two weeks, it's already influenced me so much,” said Smith. “Like I said, I hadn’t taken a previous health class, but now I'm so interested in all this. I'm learning how to take blood pressure and it's the little things that I'm learning that's catching my interest and keeping the interest going.” Photo Credits: Ashlyn Smith

Roz Rabinowitz, Editor-In-Chief of The Powderhorn

It's never too early to start preparing for your future, and this doesn't just mean applying for college. It also means preparing for the workforce. RISE does just that.  RISE is a partnership between Caldwell Community College and Watauga High School that allows students to complete internships and pre-apprenticeships in a CTE field in which they are interested. 

Laura Carson, Career Development Coordinator, has connected 14 students with internships or pre-apprenticeships through the RISE program, making it its third and largest cohort. Students who participate in this program are expected to submit at least 120 work hours in 18 weeks to receive credit, but what makes RISE special is that these hours are paid. Or as Ms. Carson says students are “learning while they are earning”.

“[RISE] pairs them with registered industries this way they can look specifically at a pathway, so it's a little more than just exploring, " said Carson. “It's like, ‘I know I want to go into welding’. ‘I've got the credentials’ Now let's give you real life experience with an actual welder to learn the ins and outs of the business.”

For the majority of RISE internships or pre-apprenticeships, students are required to have credentials, be on their way to receiving credentials, or be currently enrolled in classes that will lead to them getting credentials. Thankfully for these students Watauga High School offers students the opportunities to receive their credentials after taking all the classes within a CTE pathway. 

“So I have taken welding 1, 2, and I'm currently in welding 3. I'm also taking carpentry 1,” said Bennett Ward, a senior at Watauga High School. “Welding is a big thing. I've been working with the welder at [Hardin Creek Timber], and he has taught me new welding processes and types, and how different things work with welding. How the metal and wood combine, and meet in the middle to make one giant project.”

By providing students with a combination of classroom learning and hands-on experience the RISE program is setting students up for employment post graduation, but these opportunities are providing 21st Century skills beyond the internship.

“The employability in soft skills that we need right now--communication, time management, cooperation skills, teamwork, adaptability--those are things that you learn on the fly on a job,” said Carson. “It's those little skills that these students are learning that no matter what they do, if they decide that they're not going to work in a kitchen, they're still learning the skills in another area to let them succeed.”

Throughout their internship, students have to work closely with coworkers and their site supervisor, who directly manages their hours and time at the internship, mimicking a real life scenario of what it is like to work a full time job under a boss. 

“I get paid every two weeks, like a regular employee, " said Ashlyn Smith, a senior at Watauga High School. “So I see what it would be like if I were to pursue that role for a professional career, what the pay would look like, how often I would get it, what it would look like for, budgeting in the future.”

While most students join RISE knowing what they want to do, Smith recently became fascinated with the idea of working in healthcare over the summer. Her internship has reaffirmed her curiosity about the healthcare field, and she is now enrolled in her first health science class. 

“I love maths, I love sciences, and I really like to learn,” said Smith. “But I also have a servant heart, and I like to help other people and help solve problems. So I think combining those aspects like the knowledge part of it and wanting to learn more and also liking to help people and be social really helped me choose the healthcare route.”

Through the RISE program students are connecting with jobs and fields in a way they have never done before, but these connections and opportunities aren't just affecting them. Carson began her teaching career as a math teacher moving from different jobs within the school system, but this particular program (RISE) rejuvenated her love for working with students. 

“It's spending my day with students talking to them about their futures. It's been rejuvenating. It was what was missing, I think, from my day to day,” said Carson. “It's also nice to tell [students], after X number of years and being X number of years old, I can start over. So you don't have to know what you want to do right now. As long as you're willing to learn and have an open mindset and a growth mindset, you can do whatever you want.”