Businesses in Aiken County participated in the observance of National Job Shadow Day on Friday.
The Aiken Works community workforce development collaborative observed National Job Shadow Day 2020 with students from Aiken County Public School District shadowing at more than 300 local businesses.
"Our goal is to provide students a 'real world' experience in their fields of interest," according to a news release from Larry Millstead, Aiken Works Lead. "These opportunities help students be more informed, engaged and prepared in their education and skills development, all while allowing employers/businesses to demonstrate a tangible commitment to supporting and improving tomorrow’s workforce."
Aiken High School senior Brandon Pope visited the Aiken Standard on Friday to shadow a variety of journalists and find out more about the communications industry.
"Today I learned that there is more to it than just what you see," Pope said. "It's definitely not easy, but it can be very fun and very creative when, you know, you're doing certain things."
He said the most surprising thing he learned during his time at the newspaper was how much creativity can be utilized in the different jobs – from advertising sales to writing stories and producing videos.
"My favorite thing I learned was going to the multimedia part and seeing how everything happens behind the scenes. That was really cool," Pope said.
After graduation, Pope plans to attend Claflin University and study the communications and public relations field. He hopes to gain experience through working for a large corporation and then plans to own his own business one day.
During his job shadow, Pope helped the Aiken Standard staff produce a video about his experience. The video can be viewed at AikenStandard.com and on the Aiken Standard's YouTube channel.
Read the full Aiken Standard article here.