RRISD & Round Rock Chamber Summer Workforce Programs

The Round Rock Chamber is proud to once again have partnered with Round Rock Independent School District (RRISD) to implement the Teacher Externship Program, Coffee Connections, and Educator Site Visit programs for 2024.

Teacher Externship Program:

The externship program is a professional development opportunity for educators (teachers, counselors, and administrators). The goal of the program is to match educators with employers in the teacher’s subject matter and/or a subject matter of interest and includes a three-to-five-day onsite job-shadow experience. Educators receive a set number of hours for professional development and gain current, real-world experience. Educators must share their experience and knowledge gained with students and other educators via lesson plans. Business partners get the opportunity to engage with RRISD, learn about current educational trends, and contribute to the next generation of workers. For more information on the program and our partners for this year, visit the following article.

Coffee Connections:

Coffee Connections is an opportunity for a speaker to present to a group of teachers in order to further connect educators with industry. These sessions occurred July 22^nd – July 25^th. Participating speakers shared their background and additional information of their organizations to participating teachers, and provides an open dialogue for teachers to directly ask business leaders about trends in their industry and how they can best partner together. We would like to thank the following organizations and their speakers for participating this year:

• Julie Lessiter, Ed.D, Vice President, Round Rock Campus, Texas State University
• Amy Merida, Executive Director, Central Texas Community Foundation
• Brooks Bennett, Assistant City Manager, City of Round Rock
• Andrew Gnann, President, Ascension Seton Williamson

Educator Site Visits:

This was a single day event on July 30^th that will allowed 100+ Career & Technical Education teachers to visit a business site in or near Round Rock. The visit to these local businesses allowed teachers an opportunity to meet local employers and learn how to incorporate real world examples of the lessons that they share with their students. We would like to thank the following businesses for their time this year:

• ACC Round Rock
• Ascension Seton Williamson
• City of Round Rock – Water Treatment Plant
• Community Impact
• Dover Fueling Solutions
• East/West Manufacturing Enterprises
• Komico Technology, Inc.
• Luminex
• Premier Research Labs
• Round Rock Area Serving Center
• Round Rock Express
• Round Rock Fire Department
• Total Site Solutions

The Round Rock Chamber looks forward to continuing to work with RRISD to connect with local employers to continue to build the workforce of the future for Round Rock. For more information on these programs, please contact Zach Scott, Director of Workforce and Industry Development, at zscott@roundrockchamber.org.