Job shadowing teaches students workplace skills

By By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
March 12, 2004
After spending the day with the director of marketing for the Lauderdale County Tourism Bureau, high school student Xaizera McFarland said she's decided on a career.
Lisa Holifield, the director of marketing and public relations at the tourism bureau, said she was glad to show McFarland what a workday is like.
McFarland, a senior at Meridian High School, is enrolled in the Marketing Management Technology program at Ross Collins Career and Technical Center. She and 15 other students participated in a job shadowing program Thursday that was coordinated by Ross Collins Marketing Instructor Nelda Davidson.
Other area businesses that participated in the program were American Eagle Outfitters, McAlisters Gourmet Deli, Brainstorm Creative Group, Baymont Inn and The Squirrel's Nest.
Davidson said the program was designed to let the students know what it's like to be at a real job.
During their day together, Holifield and McFarland went to Neshoba County to take pictures to send to Glamour magazine, which will be in Meridian today to do a story about the 1964 murders of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney.
Davidson said she asked her students to fill out questionnaires about where they would like to work so she would know where to send them.