Aspire Johnson County Announces Successful First Week of Teacher Externship Program

By Aspire Economic Development + Chamber Alliance | | 10.22.24

Aspire Johnson County, the chamber of commerce and economic development organization for Johnson County, has announced a Teacher Externship Program in September that local teachers (7th-12th grade), school counselors, and administrators were invited to apply for to connect the workplace to the classroom, earn a stipend & professional development credit.

This year’s Externship Program takes place on two dates, with Aspire School to Work Specialist Jennifer Hollingshead wrapping up the first session last week on the 9th. The next Externship is taking place on October 16 through 18.

“We wrapped up week 1 of our Teacher Externship program made possible by a grant from the CenterPoint Energy Foundation.” said Hollingshead. “This is a new program for Aspire, but we were able to gain insight from several organizations in Indiana that had done teacher externships successfully. After hearing the impact this program had on teacher's awareness of all of the careers in our region, I’m excited to offer this again in 2025.”

Hollingshead thanked Greenwood Fire Department and Brad Coy, Hilton Garden Inn and Jason Belk, Endress+Hauser Group and Nicole Otte, Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance and Bill McIntire, Community Health Network and Pam Stirling, SCS Construction Services, Inc. and Chris Strack, T&W Design & Build and Steve Shehorn, LEED AP, and Aspire Economic Development + Chamber Alliance and Christian Maslowski and Amanda Rubadue, CEcD for all hosting teachers during the two-day Externship.

Contact Jennifer Hollingshead at jhollingshead@aspirejohnsoncounty.com or 317.888.4856 ext. 113 to learn how employers and teachers from the Johnson County region can participate in 2025.