Summer RISE, an initiative led by the Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) Partnerships Unit in collaboration with businesses, government agencies, higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations, has concluded another successful season. Through RISE, approximately 700 MCPS students who will be juniors and seniors participated in career-based learning opportunities during the summer. Two even had a chance to interview County Executive Marc Elrich for a communications assignment.
Students had the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning opportunities related to their field of interest.
The program ran for four weeks, from July 5-29. Each student had a minimum of 50 hours of either in-person, virtual or a combination of the two experiences.
Among the experiences RISE participants were exposed to this summer were:
- Organizational structures and how an organization functions.
- Employer expectations in a typical workplace environment.
- Career options, starting salaries, degrees, certifications or experiences required in a specific field.
- Professional and transferable technical skills determined by the business community.
- Technical and professional transferable skills that apply to any job.
Sophia Stern from Blair High School in Silver Spring and Timaya Pulliam from Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring each spent their RISE experiences shadowing the County’s communications staff. They learned about media relations, speechwriting, issues management and social media.
Sophia’s interview with the County Executive can be viewed at https://youtu.be/Kp4aDSm9O7M
Timaya’s interview with the County Executive can be viewed at https://youtu.be/fv20puuuhF4
