TWO learning institutions. K to 12. Digital Arts. And, a Kelley.
A challenge presents itself! It is not everyday we get the opportunity to be a partner with another institution of learning, more so, a Christian school where we expect a values driven organization to provide top-notch individuals who wish to collaborate and who wish to have their first experience in digital arts training.
So, we accepted the challenge! Ms. Karen Kelley of Cordillera School of Digital Arts, Inc. (CSDA) custom fit our various digital arts design requirements to enhance the job exposure (JE) program for two Small World Christian School Foundation (SWCSF) students, the first batch of K to 12 JE senior high schoolers.
Our motivation emerges from our own personal experiences, where each of us underwent a similar JE during our college days, which supposedly provided us a clearer understanding of how the working world operates.
However, on each of our own somewhat unfulfilling personal experiences of doing menial and irrelevant tasks inspired us to think of how can we work “out-of-the-box”. This was definitely our opportunity to be game changers and to become different, something extraordinary.
We genuinely desired for the K to 12 high schoolers have a real takeaway from this once-in-a-high-school-life experience and from the pockets of actual live projects so they can have a sense of ownership and accomplishment. CSDA does not believe in mediocrity or just “making it” for the sake of doing so. We truly believe that students ought to be given an opportunity to enhance their God-given gifts so they can be fully equipped for their future careers in life, therefore, we provided them a spark so that they could ignite their passion through this experience.
Enter Prezil Ong and Corinne Casas, both young with creative minds, fresh to take on challenging roles while Ms. Kelley took to water like fish in crafting an unconventional training and JE program. This was a program truly designed for their skills based on a conducted talent assessment. They were both assigned to the marketing department as they have chosen to be under the Accountancy, Business, and Management (ABM) track. Each job descriptions were crafted and a detailed activity sheet was provided and explained thoroughly to them and their adviser, Mr. Virgilio Garcia to jump-start their apprenticeship.
In their day-to-day activities, the two bright minds were taught basic management functions such as planning and organizing, exactly as how it is in the world of business. They had to apply time management in each of the projects assigned to them and were urged to take initiative to ask questions, if any. To add, innovative tools in digital arts, e-Commerce, and project management were introduced to them. They were also required to present to the management and CSDA team members their accomplished projects. This trained them in their communication skills, a valuable soft skill they will surely need in the workplace.
This program was an eye-opening experience for both CSDA team members and the apprentices as all parties learned something new from one another.
Corinne and Prezil had amazingly creative ideas, the passion to learn new things, and great work ethics. They brought inspiration to the school team members as they carried with them a youthful and vibrant energy.
CSDA positively looks forward to continuously providing unconventional training and a JE program for local youth here in the Cordilleras.