Schools across Michigan are offering paid internships, fellowships and cooperative programs aimed at preparing students for jobs. Kettering's 2,600 students rotate between job and school. They take on progressively more difficult job assignments and their course work is designed to enhance the type of engineering studied. Throughout their education curriculum they work in classrooms so by the time they graduate they find waiting employers. Employers have designed specific jobs for co-op nurses that give them depth in several fields while maintaining a professional nurse supervisor.
Students practice on dummies first, graduating to field work.
Overall, high schools are doing a better job at preparing students for careers, Jerome said. Guides and mentors can turn up in unexpected places. Sara McDuffee found out about the University of Detroit's architecture program through her driver's education teacher. This is an accelerated program. Maureen McDonald is a Metro Detroit free-lance writer.