On the morning of November 14th, 2018, 16 business leaders from different professions gathered in the auditorium at Mead High School to help prepare students for the business world for the seventh year in a row.

According to Mr. Fred Wilson, an involved business teacher at Mead, “We get about 20 volunteers per year…” This year, the professions at the event ranged from an insurance agent to a Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce CEO.

Mead High School continues to host this once in a lifetime opportunity, despite the controversy with students having to miss their classes. As Wilson explains, “I really think it benefits students because it gives them the opportunity to have a high stress interview with a high performing professional in a situation where it doesn’t matter if you fail. It’s an opportunity to fail forward. To learn and to fail forward and to get some real feedback when there is nothing really on the line. And I think that’s great.”

Even though these interviews were only for practice, many students have spent the last few weeks preparing for today. Junior Holli Wigginton says, “In class we talked about what kinds of questions we were going to be asked during the interview. I also spent some time reflecting on what my strengths and weaknesses are because I know that’s a common question to get asked during an interview.”

Mrs. Kathy Stevens, Business Director for the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce, wishes she had an opportunity like this when she was in high school. “We didn’t have this kind of thing. You would have to learn at the interview which is the last place you want to be learning how to do this. This was a great idea to get everyone used to interviewing and it’s also just interesting to see how nervousness happens to everybody… You guys are at least being told what to expect. Hopefully it kind of calms your nerves a little bit, but the nervousness is still there and that’s good,” says Stevens.

To some students, their mock interview was incredibly stressful for many reasons (their grade being the least of their worries). Mead High senior Skyler Studholme felt as if the interview seemed absolutely real. When asked what she was most looking forward to, she says “Actually having a one-on-one with a person makes it very real life …” She then continues to reflect on how her interview went. “He gave me a lot of positive feedback…I think it went really well, I’m excited. I’m acting like I’m actually gonna get the job,” says Studholme.

It took a lot of work to put this event together, but many students were really glad to have the opportunity to participate in this event. Nicholas Hoffman, a junior here at MHS, says that “ You can practice interviewing with a lot of people, and I know that, but it’s better to be doing it with people who do this on a regular basis. I think that their advice is a lot more hard to come by, especially with the added face-to-face value.”

Not only did students love this opportunity, the visiting business men and women also really enjoyed their time with the students. Scott Cook, Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce CEO, a third time attendee to this event, says his favorite part of this event is “The variety of students that I get to meet I met a number of very interesting students that are wanting to do different things. Graphic design. Attorney. Police officer. Nurse. So a lot of different variety of positions that students want to pursue. This is exciting to see, it gives you hope for the future.”

Overall, everyone involved with this event was really happy to have been given this opportunity.