{"id":8199,"date":"2015-10-25T18:00:05","date_gmt":"2015-10-26T00:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/?p=8199"},"modified":"2016-03-02T09:55:39","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T16:55:39","slug":"students-get-small-business-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/articles\/general-business-advice\/students-get-small-business-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Get Small-Business Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carole Rutten, Deputy Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory Community Programs Office<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Highlands<\/a>

New Mexico Highlands University natural resources management professor Edward Mart\u00ednez, right, talks with Eliza Montoya about her research poster at Research Day 2015; photo by Margaret McKinney\/courtesy NMHU<\/p><\/div>\n

Preparing college students for a career involves more than just filling their heads with knowledge. It includes giving them a realistic idea of what employers will expect from them once they graduate.<\/p>\n

Several students at New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) are getting this well-rounded perspective as part of a workforce development initiative of the university\u2019s Achieving in Research, Math & Science (ARMAS) Center, the Las Vegas\/San Miguel Entrepreneurial Network and Los Alamos National Laboratory\u2019s Community Programs Office.<\/p>\n

The collaboration supports small businesses in San Miguel County by providing meaningful work experiences for undergraduate students who are pursuing bachelor\u2019s degrees at NMHU.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe literature show that students who participate in internships or service projects related to their discipline are more successful (in school) than those who don\u2019t,\u201d said Edward Martinez, Ph.D., a forestry professor in NMHU\u2019s Department of Natural Resources Management and coordinator of the ARMAS Center, which aims to recruit and retain students majoring in science, technology, engineering or math \u2014 the STEM disciplines \u2014 and see them through to graduation.<\/p>\n

Martinez embodies that overarching desire to keep New Mexico\u2019s students from moving elsewhere by providing gainful employment for them at home. The Mora native graduated from NMHU, pursued graduate studies out of state and returned to his alma mater to teach.<\/p>\n

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) collaboration was Martinez\u2019s second foray into job placement for students. His first grant-funded project placed STEM students in Las Vegas-area government and nonprofit settings doing natural-resource-management tasks. The success of that model led the university into a placement program with broader economic development ambitions and a partnership with LANL and the Las Vegas\/San Miguel Entrepreneurial Network, which acted as the liaison between the university and local businesses.<\/p>\n

Participating businesses are required to submit job descriptions and describe specific projects they\u2019d like the student interns to tackle. This helps the internship coordinator match students with compatible businesses.<\/p>\n

While the program pays the student\u2019s salary during the internship, the business owners or managers must provide mentorship that\u2019s tailored to the student\u2019s ambitions and helps the student develop critical work-related skills. \u201cThey\u2019re not just taking on an employee,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cWe want businesses to treat them like interns and mentor them \u2014 help them develop skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Semilla Natural Foods in Las Vegas was among the first businesses to participate in the program when it launched this spring.\u00a0 \u201cWe were so excited with our first intern \u2014 and she\u2019s going to stay for a while \u2014 that we got two more, because we couldn\u2019t pick between them,\u201d store manager Debbie Morse said.<\/p>\n

Interns begin by learning how the store operates \u2014 how to receive shipments and read invoices, how to price products and verify which are organic. Besides their routine work duties, Morse said, the interns have time to work on special projects geared toward their area of study.<\/p>\n

The pharmacology major developed a storyboard about herbs with natural healing properties, which the store uses to educate consumers. The student majoring in biology and hoping to become an ophthalmologist is working on a project about herbs that support eye health. The other intern, a conservation management major, created a display about companies that don\u2019t use genetically modified products for the October commemoration of Non-GMO Month.<\/p>\n

Other area businesses participating in the project include Energy Concepts and Balanced Health Acupuncture.<\/p>\n

As part of the three-way partnership, Martinez will provide leadership to a committee of higher education, secondary education, business and community members who want to establish an ARMAS-like initiative in Los Alamos and other nearby counties. The funding for this initiative was provided by Los Alamos National Security LLC, the company that manages the laboratory.<\/p>\n

For more information about this and other workforce development initiatives of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Community Programs Office, visit http:\/\/www.lanl.gov\/community\/index.php<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Download 421_Students Get Small-Business Experience<\/a>\u00a0PDF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Carole Rutten, Deputy Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory Community Programs Office Preparing college students for a career involves more than just filling their heads with knowledge. It includes giving them a realistic idea of what employers will expect from … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8199"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8456,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199\/revisions\/8456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}