Highlands High School business and leadership teacher Elise Carter introduced the city’s high school intern to Fort Thomas leaders during Monday’s council meeting.
J.P. Schafer is a junior who works at the city through a college dual credit program. He has been working with City Administrator Matt Kremer and other city staff this semester.
By the end of the school year, said Carter, Schafer will have earned college credits in the dual credit program associated with Northern Kentucky University.
“All my courses are tied to either NKU or WKU to allow students the opportunity to earn college credit at the high school level. J.P.’s first year is this year, taking dual credit,” said Carter. “By May, he will have four full credits out of his way, additional credits that, whether he chooses to pursue business or go off to be a physical therapist or whatever life brings him, will come as Gen Ed credits.”
By earning these college-level credits, Schafer stands to save about $7,200 towards tuition at NKU, she added.
Schaffer is taking four classes in the school’s Business Launch program including financial literacy, organizational leadership, entrepreneurial mindset and basic marketing concepts.
“My goal is moving the learning outside of just a textbook,” said Carter. “[Students] go out and meet and work with small business owners. Being in the field and learning from that expertise is going to be more of an eye-opening experience for them versus me sitting in front of the classroom assigning work. hopefully, when they go out to wherever their small business internship is taking them, they can see the concepts related to the classroom.”
Instead of choosing a small business for his first internship, Schafer decided he wanted to work at the city and said he reached out to see if that would be possible. He’s been working with city staff since the end of January.
Kremer said Schafer has been a quiet and studious worker, someone who listens carefully and goes straight to his work. City staff has made use of the student, having him work on projects that will save the city time and effort.
“I’ve been working with Mr. Kremer marking double poles around the city,” said Schafer. “It is a big problem. We’re going to be fixing that, making the city look better. With Mr. [Joe] Ewald, I’ve been working on city revenue and their budget sheet, looking at the change year over year. With Sam [Shelton], in marketing, I helped him with Bridging Back Businesses that Fort Thomas is participating in.”
Kremer explained it was very important to staff not to give the intern busy work but instead work with him on a variety of city projects.
The pole project, he said, is identifying places in town where there are two utility poles. When Duke Energy replaces a pole, they must wait for the other utility companies in town, internet, and phone, to move their equipment to the new pole before the company can remove the old one. Often, Kremer said, that doesn’t happen, and the city must identify and push the other companies to move their equipment.
He said his initial thought was to have someone walk around and note where double poles appear, but Schafer suggested using Google Earth to find the poles. It was a great idea, Kremer said.
“It allows him to stay here. We’re not wasting fuel, not worried about him,” said Kremer. “He has been traveling the city on Google Maps and documenting all these poles. He’s been doing a great job of handling that. And again, although it’s not exciting, I’ve explained to him how important it is just for the beautification of the city.”
Schafer will continue with the city until near the end of the semester, April 25.