This past school year SWIF hosted a couple of local students who are job shadowing and learning about opportunities available locally. This is the second of two stories about Kristine Karl, a Ridgewater College student and Maddie Hoel, a Hutchinson High School student.
Hutchinson High School senior Maddie Hoel
Maddie has also been at our office in recent weeks. She is a student in the
Occupational Mentorship class and is interested in business as a career.
Her goals include being a part of a leadership or executive team for a business, she said.
“I’ve known since I was 5 years old that I wanted to go into business,” Maddie said.
She came into the job shadowing experience with expectations of learning what it takes to start up a business and also what role SWIF plays in helping business get up and running. “That’s what I came for,” she added.
Maddie has been shadowing our microenterprise team and learning about business plans and risk rating for loans. In a past class, she wrote a business plan and recalled that process being a lot of work but recognized that someone who puts that amount of work into a business plan is committed to getting the business started.
Maddie also attended a workforce conference with SWIF Vice President Scott Marquardt and toured some of SWIF’s past loan clients and learned about their businesses.
She plans to take a year off before continuing her education. During that year, her plans include a one-month volunteer trip to Bali, Indonesia through Global Leadership Adventures and working. After that, she intends to enroll in a two-year college for business and transfer to a four-year school for business management and administration.
How can you lend a hand to a local student looking for direction in their education? Contact your local high school or technical school and offer some job shadowing opportunities for students! You might be rewarded with some great connections or future employees for your business.
