Chamber opens registration for 2023 Memphis teacher externs, hosts

• The Greater Memphis Chamber is accepting teacher extern and company host applications as part of its 2023 Teacher Externship Program at memphischamber.com/externs
• The goal of the program is to build bridges between classrooms and businesses to help high school teachers better educate their students about future career opportunities
• Teacher externs will receive $2,500 stipend and a $200 gift card for classroom supplies

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Wednesday, 2/15/23) – The Greater Memphis Chamber today began accepting registrations from businesses looking to participate in its 2023 Teacher Externship Program. The summer program pays high school teachers a stipend to spend two weeks with a host company, providing them with hands-on experience in industries related to the subjects they teach and with classroom resources.

To register to host a teacher extern, businesses should fill out the Chamber’s interest form.

Teacher externs receive a stipend for their work and gain invaluable experience and perspectives they can share with their students – through field trips, enhanced lesson plans, and exciting classroom activities – when they return to the classroom in the fall. The cost to host companies is $3,500 per extern, which includes a $2,500 stipend, a $200 classroom supply gift card, technical support to screen and match the right teacher to the right company, and help crafting the externship experience.

Via a competitive application, vetting, and matching process, selected teacher externs are placed with workplace hosts and complete a two-week (64 hours) externship at their host business between June 5 and July 29, 2023. Chamber staff will work with externship hosts to create individualized, meaningful, professional development experiences for externs, such as job shadowing opportunities, facilities tours, hands-on job-related activities, and more.

“Today’s students are tomorrow’s employees, managers, and CEOs,” said Ted Townsend, president & CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber. “This two-week program builds bridges between our classrooms and our businesses, helping teachers empower their students with the essential information and skills they need for the jobs of today and tomorrow.”

The Chamber launched the Teacher Externship Program last year, placing four teachers at three businesses: Buckman International, The Juice Plus+ Company, and Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare. In its second year, the Teacher Externship program is staged to impact hundreds of Greater Memphis students as they consider their future careers.

“When it comes to career preparation, our business community is leading from the front,” said Amity Schuyler, Chief Innovation Officer and SVP of Workforce Development for the Greater Memphis Chamber. “The industry and technical knowledge teachers gain allows them to enhance their curriculum and educate their students on both the hard and soft skills required by employers. In turn, host companies can build connections with educators and students interested in their industries.”

Learn more about the program and last year’s externs at memphischamber.com/externs.

ADDITIONAL QUOTES

• Bolton High School teacher Gene Robinson II, 2022 extern at The Juice Plus+ Company: “This experience was absolutely perfect. I had the opportunity to see and experience everything from entry level to the executive level. From the warehouse to the round table meetings.”
• Power Center Academy teacher Raven Lomax, 2022 extern at Buckman International: “This experience helped me see the correlation of what I am teaching and what businesses use in today's world. I have taken a lot of notes on what I can do more and differently in my classroom. This experience also exposed me to different platforms I would like to teach within my lessons which will prepare my students to be career or college ready when they graduate.”
• Liza Pepple, senior director of global product development for 2022 extern host The Juice Plus+ Company: “It helped us understand how we could support the local schools and teachers better and fostered a great, long-term relationship. It also helped to facilitate understanding about how best to teach people about what we, as a company, do.”

About the Greater Memphis Chamber: One of Memphis’ oldest institutions, dating back to 1838, the Greater Memphis Chamber is a privately funded nonprofit that serves as the region’s lead economic development organization and the “Voice of Memphis Business” on local, state, and national issues. The Chamber’s mission is to relentlessly pursue prosperity for all — through economic and workforce development, pro-growth advocacy, and by providing support and resources to its investors, which include many of the region’s largest employers. For more information about the Chamber, visit memphischamber.com and memphismoves.com. Also, follow the Chamber on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, and sign up for its weekly newsletter, Memphis Fourword.