Students job shadow at Marietta Memorial Hospital

Here at Monroe Central, we are lucky to have Ms. Sandy Doudna, our Career Pathways Specialist, work with our students. Ms. Doudna works to implement and coordinate the area youth in our community with work-based learning opportunities through real-world, career relevant experience.

Career pathways are a key strategy for improving postsecondary and workforce readiness. “I work to develop relationships and partnerships with businesses, community organizations, and local school districts,” says Ms. Doudna. These relationships and partnerships can result in internships, job shadowing, and full-time job positions for our area youth. 

Due to COVID-19, a lot of job shadowing has been shut down, and it has been difficult to get students out to colleges and internships. Monroe Central initially had a trip planned to visit Belmont College this week to see the nursing and engineering programs, but due to weather, the trip was rescheduled. 

In addition to developing relationships within the community and setting up opportunities for our students, Ms. Doudna also: 

• Navigates the Ohio Means Jobs Career Connections Backpack program, where students can customize their career pathway through the Backpack, which lets them save and store their career planning activities and account information

• Advises in Interview Techniques -- how to dress for an interview, answering interview questions, how to conduct oneself in an interview, along with running a social media, being drug free, and more

• Has connections with over 130 businesses that conduct tours, speak to students, and allow opportunities for job shadowing

• Is a certified van driver and drives vans for schools taking multiple students to a college or business

• Provides assistance in soft skills, such as college applications, work placements, employee benefits, tuition reimbursements, and team player engagement

“It’s just as important to find out what you don’t want to do as it is find out what you do want to do,” says Ms. Doudna. “All of this leads to a vision, which leads to aspiration, purpose, and then, most importantly, hope.” 

Below are some photos from past college visits and job shadowing students have done. Again, due to COVID-19, we have been unable to set up as many opportunities for students. Ms. Doudna is working on rescheduling visits, setting up online visits and interviews, and other opportunities for our students. 

Monroe Central student job shadows at Doudna Chiropractic. 

Monroe Central students working on pathways through OMJ Backpacks, doing assessments/career clusters to help with pathways. 

Students visit Marietta Memorial Hospital to job shadow nursing, ultrasound, radiology, social work, and physical therapy. 

Students job shadowing at Marietta Electrical Training Alliance; students got to hear about all the opportunities available through their apprenticeship program. 

Student job shadowing at Vet Tech. 

Students job shadowing different types of engineering at AMG Vanadium. 

Students getting ready to hear a court case. Their interests included: law, criminal justice, social work, and political science.