Housatonic Valley Regional High School Teacher
Spends His Vacation Working
Teacher David Lindsay went an extra mile, or actually an extra two weeks, to better understand how to help his students. The Housatonic Valley Regional High School science instructor spent two weeks of his vacation working at Bicron Electronics Company in an effort to help bridge the gap between school and workplace.
“Linda DiCorleto, our career educator, suggested someone volunteer to go into the factory to see how the production line works and I said, ‘why not.’” said Lindsay, as he prepared for his last few hours of work Friday. “Other than the blisters on my hands, it was a wonderful experience.”
Schools and businesses have realized the need to join forces to assure that students are being properly prepared for the job market. Various programs in Region 1 have been instituted to that end, such as work-study and employee shadowing.
Jill Godburn, Bicron’s human resources manager, said she was extremely pleased with the experiment and she too, found Lindsay’s stint to be very beneficial. She said she hoped it would help to improve the skills of future workers, as well as help them with problem-solving and teamwork.
She spoke of the 10 skills business leaders in Region 1 agreed students needed to possess, whether going on to higher education or directly into the job market. These are interpersonal, responsibility and dependability, basic learning skills, problem solving, teamwork, positive attitude, reasoning and practical knowledge, self-confidence/self esteem, computer and technical skills and willingness to learn.
“You improved morale,” Godburn told Lindsay during their last meeting. “It was wonderful to have you here.”
Others out on the floor, several of who had been Lindsay’s students at Housatonic, echoed Godburn’s sentiments. “They enjoyed telling me ‘do this,’” he said, smiling. “It really was a lot of fun. Everyone was very friendly and when I went to someone looking very confused, they were very helpful.”
“This is the first time I had to teach a teacher,” joked employee Philip Boibeaux.
Bicron manufactures solenoids, transformers and sensors. A tour of the 32-year-old company by product team leader Rose McGhee revealed a well-run, safety-oriented plant in which employees worked at their self-contained units, not on a mass assembly line. They each take on a great deal of responsibility for their tasks and cross train in order to be able to perform several functions. McGhee said incentives, such as extended coffee breaks and free lunches, are offered for exemplary performances.
Asked to describe the best and worst parts of his experience, Lindsay was quick to point out the high level of fatigue he experienced because of the intensity of learning all the tasks. As for the positive, he said he was pleased to gain an awareness that the work is not just a mundane assembly line process, but involves thoughtful procedures. He reiterated his appreciation for the helpfulness displayed by his coworkers.
As a result of this experience, Lindsay is hopeful the school will institute an interdisciplinary manufacturing unit as part of the technology curriculum or in the science department.
Godburn stressed that other businesses in the area, such as ITW in Lakeville and Becton-Dickinson in Canaan, are also conducting school-to-workplace activities to bring the two entities closer together towards a common goal.
(By Ruth Epstein, from the (Torrington, CT) Register Citizen)