JDS Construction Wall Lake

This semester I worked for JDS Construction at 2429 360th Street in Wall Lake, Iowa and my cooperating business partner was Jamie Schoneboom. This business is construction based that requires lots of manual labor, hands on projects, mathematical equations, and your full attention. This job offers lots of services and goods to not only a family or small group of people, but it also offers it to the community. The types of services done at this job can vary from small projects done for a family such as renovating a bathroom or removing a window and adding a false wall. The projects can also be more community based such as expanding onto the Wall Lake Lumber Yard to accelerate production.  

Jemm Century Farms Wall Lake

I worked at Jemm Century Farms located outside of Wall Lake. My boss was James Meister. At my place of work, we fed cows and horses twice sometimes three times a week and then cleaned out their pens the other days. When spring started rolling around, we started to plant and that was really exciting. Other tasks were cleaning up the shop, changing the oil on the farm equipment, tearing down old barns, burning trash and wood, and cleaning animals.

B.C. Livestock Lake View

My placement was at B.C. Livestock in Lake View and my coppering business partners were Janel and Bryon Chedester. I enjoyed completing multiple tasks in my time of work. Projects involving, unloading 3 and 4 deck trailers, given a list of parts and work that is needing to be done on a truck and completing it, construction work on our house and acreage. No matter the project big or small, time absorbing or quick and easy, I enjoyed every minute spent enduring the journey. One thing I enjoyed the most was probably the parts runs to Sioux City. Having my School-to-Career placement with B.C. Livestock will help me endlessly in the future. I learned that time and efficiency is key when loading or unloading a trailer and to always be aware of your surroundings. I will be able to apply my knowledge and experience in the future by using the experience I received with the driving to help me be successful in moving forward with the career. It also prepared me for the future by acquiring the skills of time management, dependability, trust, work ethic, responsibility, etc.

The Crib Wall Lake

The name of the business I worked at was The Crib, located in Wall Lake, Iowa. My cooperating business partner was Lorri Hemer, who I worked closely with on a daily basis. We maintained consistent communication regarding scheduling matters such as opening shifts, planned absences, and who is leaving early certain days, ensuring smooth day-to day operations. The crib is a daycare business that provides childcare services for infants, toddlers, and young children. Its main service is to offer a safe, nurturing, and educational environment where children can learn, play, and grow while their parents are at work. The Crib also provides meals, naps, structured learning activities, and social interaction opportunities to support each child’s development. I was responsible for hands on tasks each day, preparing and serving meals and snacks, changing diapers, story time, crafts, basic learning games, and maintaining a clean and organized area.

The Crib Wall Lake

I worked at the The Crib in Wall Lake IA. My boss was Ali Horsley. The Crib is a daycare and we offer childcare from 7:30-5 Monday-Friday. What my day looked like was helping clean up lunch when I got there, I would do the dishes and clean off the table. After lunch I would play with the kids and then we would clean up all the toys and have an hour of quite time. After quite time I would get the kids a snack and we would play until they got picked up. At the end of the day, I would make sure everything is picked up and turned off.

Drost Physical Therapy and Performance Wall Lake

The name of the business I shadowed at was Drost Physical Therapy and Performance. It is located at 123 Main Street, Wall Lake, IA 41466. My boss was Megan Drost. Drost Physical Therapy and Performance is a healthcare business that specializes in physical therapy and performance training. It provides services such as injury rehabilitation, post-surgical recovery, pain management, mobility improvement, and athletic performance enhancement. The clinic works with a variety of patients, from those recovering from surgery to athletes looking to improve strength and prevent injury. During my time at Drost Physical Therapy and Performance, I participated in a variety of tasks, including: setting up exercise equipment for patient therapy sessions, observing patient evaluations and learning how treatment plans are developed, cleaning and sanitizing therapy table between sessions, assisting with patient stretches under supervision, and leading performance classes. These hands-on activities helped me better understand the day-to-day operations of a physical therapy clinic and performance center.

Salon L & Boutique Lake View

My placement this semester was at Salon L & Boutique in Lake View and my cooperating business partner was Elizabeth Drost. During my time at the salon, I enjoyed getting to unbox new inventory and seeing the process of how they get put out into the boutique. I also enjoyed getting to see how a business is run and how important it is to show up and be there for customers on a daily basis. Watching Liz and Jackie do what they love with hair was my favorite part. Everyday a client would come in with a different inspiration and both of them would do whatever they could to make their hair dreams come true. Watching the business side of the salon will be very helpful in the future. Depending on what I do with my future seeing the inside ropes of running a business will help me succeed. I have learned how to interact with customers and to interact in a professional manner. Being able to be given many tasks and to get them done in a timely manner will help me in my future. Through this experience I have learned many things and have improved many skills that I can carry on to my future career.

The Wall Lake General Store Wall Lake

The Wall Lake General Store is located at 112 Main Street, Wall Lake, IA 51466 and my cooperating business partner at the Wall Lake General Store was Sidney Bohe. She is very important to the business because without her there wouldn’t be a Wall Lake General Store. I did many things at my placement including moving shelving around to find the most optimal space to have the shelves to store things, cleaning out rooms to make space for new things and to tidy up the place, running wires through the walls to connect outlets so that all the appliances could be used and to make sure the outlets were in a good spot, and putting up lights throughout the building. I learned about running different circuits across the building for a variety of different appliances, including equipment running on 110v and 220v, and how to tear down walls to expand some rooms to make more space. There was a lot of equipment in the early parts of semester that had to do more with construction, so knowledge of construction tools and equipment was necessary. It was towards the end of the semester that we worked with the actual coffee equipment. It was a nice mix to the construction side and then to see the business side of things.

In Personal Finance students learned all about careers from how to pick a career that is right for them, filling out applications, completing resumes, writing a cover letter, interviewing, and writing a thank you letter. In the following pictures students are shown completing their mock interviews. Students were to apply to an open sales associate position and interview for that same position. In order to make the process as real world as possible students interviewed each other while the other students in the classroom critiqued their interviews by writing positive aspects and things that need to be improved within the interview process. Students were to dress up and were graded on appearance, first impressions, interview content, interview technique/skills, and their closing. Students then were required to write a reflection about their interview. This was a great experience for the students; they were able to sit through an interview and get some real world experience before actually interviewing outside of school.

Tasks completed were: treating seed, drove to Storm Lake to pick up drivers from the truck shop, counted seed bags on pallets, picked up trash around the farm, spread rock, washed equipment, picked up rocks, and cleaned the shop.

At the boutique, I modeled clothing, processed payments, assisted customers, delivered packages to the post office, helped rearrange items in the store, unpackaged new arrivals, helped pick out new items to order, steamed clothing, put prices on items and hung items up.

Ten things that I did almost every day at my placement were; checked oil, tires, etc., grease the semi or trailer, wash equipment, organize the shop, make sure we have all needed parts for the upcoming weekend, I would be picked up to go and load or unload, mowing and weed eating, vacuum out semis, wipe down the interiors, and replace lights.

Ten things that I did at Jacobsen Seed would include: driving a forklift, treat corn and beans, weigh out plot seed, build seed boxes, stack bags on pallets, pick out orders ready to be delivered, deliver either beans or corn to customers, sweep up the shop, make sure there always was grass seed available, and take note of what varieties we have in stock.

Tasks I completed at Quirk Farms: measure and form up concrete, tie rebar, set up forms, pour concrete, work cattle, fix and completed maintenance on equipment, go get parts, power wash equipment, clean inside of the tractors, and clean the shop.

Tasks I completed at Phillips Ag Center include: delivering seed, sorting corn seed, treating soybeans, over treating corn, dumping seed bags into seed boxes, unloading trucks, learning the billing process, mowing, sweeping the shops, and burning seed bags.

Ten things I did almost every day or every week is clean cattle tanks, clean tractors, scoop out feed bunks, vacuum out tractors, sweep the shop, clean cattle yards, clean tractor windows, get the payloader out to feed cows, and make sure all lights are off before leaving.

While I was at Family First Dental, there were not many tasks that I was able to complete while at the dental office since I have not had any sort of education in this field. Every day when first arriving, I would greet the front desk and go to Dr. Ching’s office and get my scrub jacket on. I would then walk through the hygiene and assistant halls to see which patient I was interested in watching. Typically, I would watch hygiene and the routine that they use in each appointment. When I was in the room with hygiene, I was able to learn how to use the scanner machine called an iTero. I learned how to clean and prepare the machine for a patient. I would then watch the cleaning and when Dr. Ching came in, I would find a new patient. I would repeat this until 10:00 am, then I would put my jacket in the laundry basket and leave for school.

Tasks I completed at Lake View Foods: grind hamburger, cut steaks, put out frozen chicken, check Arcadia Meat back stock, check the dates on the meat, help with carry outs, put out milk cooler backstock, check the frozen back stock, make sure the ad items are out, and make sandwiches and deviled eggs. 

Ten things that I do most days at work include, talking to customers about the price of the units we have for sale and the information about the units, fix problems with the units, service the units or customer vehicles, paperwork on the computer, including purchase agreements and warranty, deliver or pick up units, make sales posts on Facebook Marketplace and reply to them, check in and order new units, clean and wash up units, put accessories on customer vehicles and clean and pick up my work area.

Ten things I did most days: schedule patients, start patients while Megan finishes with the previous, write down what Megan does with the patients, help walk with older patients, assist with youth classes, communicate with patients and make reports, laundry, cleaning, organizing, and mail bills.

I helped with mowing and painting the field, watering, weed eating around everything, getting the field set up for a game or a track meet, fertilize the fields and many other tasks that would come up.

Tasks I completed at my placement were: planted with the new air seeder, planted with the corn planter, did tillage in the new 4-wheel drive, treated seed, and delivered seed that we treated to the customers.

Tasks I completed at Kids World were: woke up the children from their naps and changed their diapers, cleaned up the room from nap time, updated the iPad with details on how long each student slept, did they have a wet diaper, or maybe they applied diaper cream, took the kids down the hall to the cafeteria where the teachers prepare an afternoon snack for them, updated the iPad with what each student ate and then took them back to our classroom, free-played with the children, and cleaned the room.

When I worked at Lake View Lumber I did all sorts of tasks, like stacking lumber, helping customers, running the computer, checking people out, delivering products to job sites, mowed and took care of the yard and also stacked fire wood.

There were various tasks that I had accomplished while attending my placement at Schmitt Construction. One of the things we do quite often is install waterlines, most commonly outdoors, but occasionally indoors. Another thing we recently have been doing cleaning sewers with our new equipment and doing camera inspection of sewer lines and tiles. Third, we have done lots of directional boring of water lines, electrical conduit, and sewer lines. We have also installed a couple new septic systems this semester. Lastly, we have poured concrete to repair an area that we had ripped out to accomplish our task.