(Rock County, WI) – Today, more than 150 individuals gathered at Blackhawk Technical College’s Central Campus to recognize the efforts of the 2019 Rock Internship program. Thirty-five incoming high school seniors, from eight districts, and over 20 employers were recognized for participating in this paid, six week earn-and-learn program. The featured segment of the event was the Rock Intern capstone presentations, which highlighted each intern’s experience and worksite.
During the 2019 Rock Internship program, 35 interns were introduced to specific and general career pathway experiences. Essentially, these interns were test driving their future career interests – as articulated and mapped in their Academic & Career Plans – and job readiness skills through the assignment of real workplace responsibilities. Since this work was performed within a mentor-enriched environment, these interns were afforded with meaningful, structured opportunities to develop and apply their communication, critical thinking, leadership and teamwork skills.
Additionally, these engagements opened-up valuable networking connections for the Rock Interns – particularly for any number of future post-internship opportunities (e.g. higher education admissions, scholarships, summer employment, collegiate internships, etc.). Lastly, this talent development program equipped these interns with interviewing, job searching and resume building skills too.
A diverse collection of Stateline Area employers, including for-and-non-profit organizations and privately-held and publicly-traded businesses, served as intern worksites for the 2019 Rock Internship program. These participants, which included several repeat participants from last year’s inaugural offering, were: Angus Young Associates, Beloit Snappers, Beloit Health System, Best Events, Blackhawk Technical College, City/Town of Beloit Fire Departments, Diamond Assets, Forward Janesville, Frito-Lay, Kerry, HealthNet, Johnson Financial Group, Mercy Health Corporation, North American Tool, R.H. Batterman, Rock County, Rock Energy Systems, SASid and SC Aviation.
Summer 2019 represented the second time this collaborative and paid earn-and-learn program was offered. In addition to the student and employer participants, support for the Rock Internship Program derives from Blackhawk Technical College (BTC), Rock County 5.0 and the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board (SWWDB). Additional program support for 2019 was provided by the Janesville Foundation.
Rock County 5.0 is a public / private economic development initiative that was launched during the wake of the Great Recession. Since its deployment, this initiative has focused its efforts toward identifying and nurturing economic opportunities, accelerating growth and growing local assets. As such, resources have remained dedicated toward the following strategic focus areas: Business Retention & Expansion; Business & Investment Attraction; Small Business & Entrepreneurship; Real Estate Positioning; and Workforce Profiling.