The 2023 inaugural MPC Employer & Student Mixer was a huge success. Thank you to all of our employer partners who came to our Cinco de Mayo celebration to mingle with MPC students. Students and employers were matched by student interest and employer need. We are grateful to the Ready to Work Team and Student Services through the EPC grant for the financial support to host this event. We hosted another mixer in Fall of 2023 in partnership with the Monterey Chamber of Commerce. This event was an amazing success and ended with some internship placements.

Changes are coming Fall 2024 to the Work Experience program at Monterey Peninsula College. The program is moving from a model of only carrying practical courses to additionally providing lecture / lab courses to prepare students for employment. We are looking forward to the new and exciting changes coming to the program.

Many programs at MPC have work experience courses built into them with your success in mind.

MPC instructors who value these experiences and see the merit in including them in your studies have gone out of their way to partner with our Work Experience Department and build the course into their program curriculum with your success in mind. Some of these programs include: Auto Tech, Hospitality, Humanities, Nutrition, Business and more. If your program doesn't have it built in you can still participate and the units qualify for MPC general education credit and are transferable to CSUs.

The possibilities are endless. Here are some of the places where our students are earning college units while gaining valuable work experience.

Rancho Cielo students were brought to the Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa to participate in mock interviews, try on and receive clothing that is sent out to be tailored to their size, have lunch, and this year, work on their resume and LinkedIn page with career professionals from MPC. Carla Becerra, MPC's Work-based Learning Coordinator and Lindsay Peelman, MPC's Business & Work Experience Faculty brought 6 MPC computers to the event and worked with students on their resumes and LinkedIn accounts. Molly Jansen, MPC's Hospitality department chair who serves on the MCHA Rancho Cielo Committee was there to assist students with picking out their outfits they will wear the the upcoming hospitality job fair. MPC is a proud partner to all of the local high schools in the area and believes in the work "community" when it comes to community college. We wish all of the Rancho Cielo students who attended this event luck in their upcoming job search at the Monterey County Hospitality Association Job Fair.

At MPC we believe in collaboration, so much so we live by it. Why recreate work that others are doing? Partner up instead and cross-collaborate between departments. We have faculty who are always thinking out of the box and are humble in practice. Creating a culture of faculty engagement through collaboration is a win for students and your MPC instructors know that. 

This spring the MPC Hospitality department tapped an instructor from the MPC Business and Work Experience program to teach students about career readiness and create a unique offering for students pursuing various pathways in hospitality. Food and beverage management, concierge, baking/pastry, restaurant ownership, artisan chef, human resource management, payroll, and more. It may seem like a challenge to instruct a class on so many separate pathways, at MPC we look at it as a strength. It is the diversity in our work that allows for a robust offering and collaboration of professional development. 

Students were challenged to write cover letters, resumes, create interactive portfolios of their plated work/and/or resume depending on their career path. They each created a card with a QR code linking to their portfolio to hand to employers at a hospitality job fair that served as their final exam. Students were taught reflection as a practice, how to calm their nerves, strategies to navigate networking, provided headshots, LinkedIn support,  and were given personal attention through career coaching. Many of them left this 8 week class with a new job, if they wanted one.

This course then led the students right into their required work experience course to complete their hospitality certificates or degrees. 

Collaboration doesn't have to be hard. For it to be easy it requires a bit of trust, communication, and motivated players. In the end, the students are the winners, and that is what we always strive for in education and at MPC.

The current 2024 hospitality cohort is gearing up to participate in this event again in the coming weeks.

Lindsay Peelman, Ed.D.                                                                         Carla Becerra 

Business and Work Experience Instructor                                          Work-based Learning Coordinator 

Monterey Peninsula College                                                                  Monterey Peninsula College

980 Fremont St. Monterey, CA 93940                                                  289 Twelfth St. Marina CA 93933

Office: BMC 202F                                                                                    Office: Lobo Hub

lpeelman@mpc.edu                                                                                cbecerra@mpc.edu