Office Engagement: RISE Program

The pilot program of the RISE Externship took place during the month of June in Boise. Four local downtown companies – Simplot, Cradlepoint, Tracer, and Clearwater – hosted 10 high school students, offering them real-world exposure to corporate companies and a variety of experiences.  

The goal of the RISE program is to retain young talent in Idaho and help them activate the next step in their education or career, while also supporting those who might otherwise not have the opportunity. The program offered sessions such as:

• Creating Your Brand 
• French Fry Sensory Testing 
• Resume Building 101 
• Plant Tours 
• Personality Tests 
• Career Fairs 
• Mock Interviews 
• Microsoft Office 101 
• Basic Business Writing 
• Anti-counterfeiting Courses 
• Effective Ideating 
• Keynote Speakers 
• Problem Solving 
• Brand Protection 101 
• Project Management 
• Company Overviews

The students spent a week at Clearwater and got hands-on experience working with teams across several different business functions. Their schedule consisted of the following: 

• Monday – Tour of the office, Welcome to Clearwater, meet G&A: L&D, HR, Finance/Accounting, IT, and Enterprise Apps  
• Tuesday – Spent the day with Marketing and Sales, did a short project and presentation, celebrating with ice cream afterwards  
• Wednesday – Spent the day with R&D, Data Flow Introduction, and website building workshop  

• Thursday – Spent the day with Ops, Tools for Success, Speed Networking: Cocoa + Connections, Accounting for All Training, Trivia  
• Friday – Your Brand Worksheet, Resume Building 101, and Mock Interviews  

After a great pilot program, we look forward to taking feedback and making next year even better. Huge thanks to the students, as well as all the employees that took time to engage with the students and make their time at Clearwater a great success! 

“RISE has been an experience I will never forget. I learned much about the businesses we visited and what I want to do in my future career. All in all, it was a great experience!”

– Lorelai Hunter  

“Meeting with business professionals in a variety of industries provided us with invaluable knowledge regarding our future careers and what opportunities are available in college.”

– Naira Akhtar