You’ve probably heard that youth unemployment is high. In fact, it is more than twice that of the overall unemployment. High school and college students are finding it harder and harder to obtain a summer job or part-time job, due to the slowly recovering economy. Even worse, 5.8 million young adults aren’t connected to work or school. What can be done about it? How can education help? How can young adults gain the experience needed to get a job?

Lumity and Tec Services, along with many other businesses around the state, are participating in the Summer Youth Employment Program. This program offers short term, paid opportunities to youth aged 16-24 who come from under-resourced communities.

But this is no ordinary summer job. These students will be working for a large portion of the day to serve their nonprofit clients and conduct a technology needs assessment within five weeks.

Student employees will also spend time in Career Readiness training each morning. This includes lessons on how to use LinkedIn and other social media platforms for job searching; how to work in teams, taking into account communication styles and tactics; and what a good work ethic looks like.

One advantage of Lumity’s involvement is our access to corporate partners and professional. Each week will feature a STEM talk or Career Site Visit with our corporate partners. Students will hear inspiring stories of work, education, and life in the technology industry straight from the source. In the first few weeks, student employees will spend a full day with the Army Corps of Engineers, getting a feel for the different job positions and workplace environment.

Perhaps best of all, at least for the students, each week will feature a contest between the teams to help quickly learn skills like creating a Prezi to show off their progress and developing a website.

To learn more or to get involved in Lumity’s STEM Collaboration and Summer Youth Employment Program, visit Lumity.org/STEM.