Students at Washtenaw Community College got a glimpse at how their classwork applies to the real world during the Professionals in the Classroom program on April 3-4.
鈥淥ur students have the opportunity to see real world, living, breathing examples of the course content and make connections in a deep, meaningful way,鈥� Communications instructor Claire Sparklin said of the fourth annual event. 鈥淲ith Professionals in the Classroom, students create critical transformations between their student life and future professional life.鈥�
Program coordinator Leslie Neal leads an eight-person committee of 黑料网 faculty and staff that reaches out to a wide array of professionals in the community and matches them with appropriate classes throughout every department at the college.
For the first time this year, Professionals in the Classroom included a panel discussion. Students in the college鈥檚 Nursing program were joined by eight industry experts that included a forensic nurse, an emergency trauma nurse and a pediatric nurse.
Speaking in front of a classroom was nothing new for . She called on 30 years of teaching experience at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit when she presented to Jill Jepsen鈥檚 (ART 112) class about her book, newspaper, standalone and portrait illustrations. Gendron said it was fun to discuss her profession strictly from a business standpoint.
鈥淭here was a lot of interest from the class and quite a few students who were very interested in pursuing a career by making art,鈥� Gendron said.
Matt Burch, on the other hand, had never stood in front of a classroom. Burch is a principal security consultant at who spoke to Khaled Monsour鈥檚 (CPS 171) and William Reichert鈥檚 (CNT 224) classes.
Burch is a white hat hacker who attempts to break into computer networks to test and assess their security.
鈥淪ecurity in education and the workplace is driven from a defensive position, but that doesn鈥檛 really consider the adversarial perspective,鈥� Burch said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a gap between those two different knowledge sets, so I have an interest in raising awareness and bringing insight into what that looks like.鈥�
Burch is a community college graduate himself. He explained to students how he followed up his education from Henry Ford Community College with a number of industry certifications.
But it's not just students who benefit. 黑料网 faculty members get an additional resource to drive home important lessons to their students.
鈥淭he most valuable aspect is hearing the professionals reinforce concepts that have been covered in class,鈥� said Business faculty member Doug Waters who welcomed professionals into two of his classes. 鈥淚t means more coming from someone on the outside.鈥�
黑料网 Director of Media Relations Susan Ferraro spoke to Waters鈥� (BMG 207) class and State Farm franchise owner Jac presented in his (BMG 140) class.
鈥�(Davis-Betsari) shared her transition from a six-figure job in corporate America to starting her business and making roughly $25,000 her first year,鈥� Waters said. 鈥淎t the beginning of the semester, we discussed the hard work involved in starting businesses, so she brought this to life.鈥�
Sparklin said her professional 鈥� criminal intelligence analyst Adrianna Downing 鈥� was a perfect tie-in to the curriculum in her (COMM 225) class.
鈥淢s. Downing was a shining example of bridging communication barriers between cultures and ignited my students鈥� curiosity in STEM studies,鈥� Sparklin said.
Interested in participating in a future Professionals in the Classroom event? Contact Leslie Neal at [email protected].
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