Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce

Our GP Works partners at Midstate College hosted their first intern in the Spring of 2018! Eric Black, a senior at Richwoods High School, had the opportunity to spend his afternoons with the Midstate administrative and IT staff. Eric gained experience in a variety of roles at Midstate, from helping at the front desk, to working on long-term IT projects. “It was a very different experience from being in a classroom,” says Eric. “There are a lot of things that I learned here that can’t be taught in a classroom setting.” One of Eric’s many roles at Midstate was helping at the front desk, answering the phone and directing visitors. “It was good to have that experience, working with customer service. Even if he never does it again, I think doing [that kind of work] gives people an appreciation for what administrative professionals do,” reported Kaitlin Seaman, eLearning Coordinator at Midstate. Eric also had the opportunity to work on several projects with Kaitlin’s eLearning team. Mi...

Across the country communities are working to connect high school students to their careers of interest by creating internships. As you may imagine, connecting students to healthcare careers proves something of a challenge, given the various regulations. Lucky for us here in Greater Peoria, OSF Healthcare was up for the challenge, creating – for the first time – an internship program for high schoolers to explore clinical healthcare careers, and we recently had a chance to catch up with our first two OSF interns.   Amanda, Dede, and Rochelle “These two have been such an incredible help.” Deuanna ‘Dede’ Moore-Harris, Sterile Processing Department (SPD) supervisor exclaimed as we navigated a maze of hallways. “We didn’t know what to expect, as we’ve never had students in our department, but when we interviewed these two, we knew they’d be great; I don’t have to worry about them at all!” Amanda and Rochelle – both seniors at Richwoods High – who were curious about pursuing ...

It’s been an outstanding year for GP Works, the Greater Peoria EDC’s effort supporting the creation and placement of internships for high school students, as we have surpassed our 2018 year-end goal of 175 placements. As of the end of June 2018, 189 local high school students between six school districts have been placed in internships between 38 unique companies in Greater Peoria since work began in earnest in the fall of 2016.  From our first two placements at Easter Seals, to the rapidly scaling internship experiences for students at large organizations like UnityPoint Health – Peoria|Pekin, OSF Healthcare, Caterpillar, ATS, City of Peoria, and many more, this work has been expedited as employer-partners realize the power of these student internships as a way to identify and attract entry-level talent. Indeed, approximately 12% of the interns we’ve placed in internships have retained as ‘regular’ employees following their initial experience. Better yet, these interns ...

Empowering employers to create internships for high school students is no easy task.  It’s even harder when there are so many myths around what high school students are able and permitted to do the in the workplace. Over the last two years of developing and launching  Greater Peoria Works , we’ve had to confront and address these myths to increase both the quantity and diversity of career development opportunities for our region’s high school students. Here are some of the most common myths – busted! Myth 1 – “Students under 18 cannot work in our workplace!”   Certainly there are unique challenges posed in certain industries regarding youth employment, but we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater here!  In Illinois, state law actually allows individuals to begin obtaining gainful employment at age 16. Safety is of course a priority and there are some  occupational responsibilities  that youth cannot perform.  But...