Garrett’s Group Dekko Impresses at IMPACT Awards

At Ready Indiana, we love high schools generating interest in STEM careers. We love education and industry working together.

Bravo, Dekko!

Earlier this week, Indiana INTERNnet (a fellow Indiana Chamber program) hosted its annual IMPACT Awards luncheon celebrating internship excellence. Internships are crucial to workplace skills development and for bridging the gap between job seekers and employers.

All of the winners’ stories were truly inspiring, but Group Dekko’s accomplishments really stuck out to us. Group Dekko, a manufacturing company headquartered in Garrett, partnered with East Noble High School in 2013 to launch “Project Explore” – an internship program designed to expose students to the manufacturing sector and provide them with industry contacts who will mentor them through school and beyond. The program will contain three levels: an internship for students between 10th and 11th grades, an additional internship for students between 11th and 12th grades and a possible ICE internship during the senior year.

The summer of 2013 began with on-boarding curriculum that included group activities and overviews of the company. A two-week rotational period followed, allowing students to experience five departments. After that, students selected two departments that interested them most, and they spent two weeks with each of those in a paid internship position.

As a culmination of their work, the students came together and used the skills they developed to create a product that was functional and could be sold to support a charity.