Nearly 45 teachers fanned out across Houston in June, spending a week at area organizations. Their week-long education included activities as diverse as organizing a hotel kitchen, spending the night on an offshore oil rig, seeing how the criminal justice system works and learning how the medical community is researching the links between bio-safety and good health.

The Partnership hosted two teachers as part of the program, Reagan High School Web mastering and desktop publishing teacher Monica Hawthorne and Barbara Jordan High School business preparitory teacher Stefani Kueht. Hawthorne spent her week with the communications team, learning how Partnership team members create the publications, Web sites and graphic design materials to showcase Partnership happenings. Kueht was paired with members of several Partnership divisions, including Government Relations, Regional Planning and Regional Issues, for her externship, learning about the organization’s day-to-day operations.

Kingwood High School chemistry teacher Gary TenEyck externed with the University of Texas Health Sciences Center. During his visit to the center's dental school, he learned about biological safety measures from Scott Patlovch (right), manager, UTH Biological Safety Program.

“What a great experience!” said Hawthorne about her week with the Partnership. “It’s been terrific to see how everyone here works together, even with very different personalities.”

She says she’ll be planning more collaborative assignments for her multimedia students, after seeing how the Partnership’s communications team works with other divisions to combine resources. During her week, she says she picked up a lot of tips from Partnership staff about what businesses will expect from her students when they enter the workforce.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Houston A+ Challenge, Harry Reasoner says that’s part of what’s so attractive about the program.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for teachers and the business world to learn from each other. Teachers can gain insights on what they need to equip their students to deal with; business people can learn of the challenges that must be met in preparing modern students for business.”

	Sam Houston High School teachers Douglas Kelt and Bob Melore listen to the proceedings in Judge Karahan's criminal court as part of their externship. The law and criminal justice teachers will use information they gained from their externship to help their students better understand the legal system.

As the region’s primary business advocate, the Partnership understands that investing in education is an important component to moving our region forward. Ensuring that the region’s students are fully equipped to handle the challenges of the work place is vital to showcasing Houston as a place where the best and brightest come to work and play. Participating in the Teacher Externship Program is an opportunity for the Partnership to be more involved with education issues and learn about the factors that can influence the organization’s educational planning and lobbying efforts.

“The Greater Houston Partnership is committed to helping every student in the region receive the best education possible to compete in the global marketplace,” said Rebecca Flores, the Partnership’s manager of education and workforce issues who, along with Partnership President and CEO Jim C. Kollaer and Education and Workforce Advisory Committee member Rob Mosbacher, Jr., whelped place teachers with member organizations. “By hosting teachers, we’re able to give them a front-row seat to see Houston’s business community at work, and we are able to gain valuable information on how we can further work with school and community leaders to improve education standards.”

As part of the externships, each teacher received a stipend for the week, and attended an end-of-the-week luncheon and awards ceremony hosted by El Paso Corp.