NORTHAMPTON, Pa. — Seventeen-year-old Jonathan Blaukowitch is headed back to school this week with a better idea of what he might want to do once he graduates.
That’s thanks to Northampton Area School District’s Summer Career Mentorship Program.
Blaukowitch and other high school upperclassmen participated in the new program over their summer break.
“It’s been very eye opening.”Rising Northampton Area High School senior Jonathan Blaukowitch
“It’s been very eye opening,” said Blaukowitch, who’s entering his senior year at the district high school.
Blaukowitch participated in the program’s weeklong manufacturing track in July. He enjoyed visiting local employers, such as Freshpet, Victaulic and Follett.
He might apply to those companies after graduation, he said.
“All three of them generally seem like very good places to work,” Blaukowitch said. “It seemed more worker-friendly.”
This past summer was the first full-scale iteration of the Summer Career Mentorship Program, which brought 50 Northampton Area High School students out to meet with employers throughout the Lehigh Valley.
The program was free to students and open to high school juniors and seniors. Students earned half of a credit toward their graduation by attending the job shadow days and writing a reflection essay on their experience.
Throughout the program, students learned tricks of the trades from experts, toured industry facilities and participated in hands-on activities.
Tapping into Lehigh Valley industries
In addition to manufacturing, there were five other industry tracks: architecture and engineering, health care, hospitality, transportation and logistics, and the performing arts.
“There's a lot of industries in the Lehigh Valley that do a lot of interesting and neat things that a lot of us don't know a lot about,” said Northampton Area Secondary Curriculum Supervisor Scott Oste, who helped develop the program.
Collectively, students visited 19 employers this past summer.
Some of those included St. Luke’s University Health Network, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Bear Creek Mountain Resort, Discover Lehigh Valley, Crayola, ArtsQuest and Lehigh Valley International Airport.
Through the job shadow experiences, students were exposed to fields they might not have encountered otherwise, Oste said.
That was the case for Luke Rogan, a Northampton Area senior, who also participated in the manufacturing track.
“I never really knew this side of manufacturing — never been inside the plants, never saw the process to anything,” Rogan, 17, said.
Rogan was leaning toward majoring in engineering in college, but became interested in potentially studying business, too, because of touring the Lehigh Valley companies, he said.
As with Rogan’s case, the program can help students decide which subjects they want to study in college if they attend, Oste said.
But it also helps students learn which fields aren’t the right fit for them — that’s “equally valuable,” Oste said.
“Yes, they spent a week and probably did some miserable things they didn't want to do, [but] wouldn't you rather figure that out now as a junior?”
‘Effective and efficient’ instruction
Based on the district’s research, the Summer Career Mentorship Program is one of a kind in the region, Oste said.
Such models are more common in school districts throughout the South and Midwest regions of the United States, he said.
Oste first began developing the career mentorship program in 2024. That fall, teachers went out to visit employer partner sites as part of their professional development.
Last week, teachers did the same ahead of the new school year.
Oste said it's important for teachers to learn what employers want from students so they can reinforce those skills in the classroom and design instruction that’s “truly effective and efficient.”
Employers are looking for students to have soft skills, such as showing up on time, working hard and having a professional attitude, said Jason Winchenbach, a Northampton Area school counselor and coordinator of the Summer Career Mentorship Program.
“With those things, you’re going to not only survive in any company, you’re going to thrive there.”
More technical skills can be taught on the job, he said.
Winchenbach said the career mentorship program is in line with the district’s mission of preparing students for life after high school.
According to data from the district, 94% of students in the Class of 2025 had plans lined up for after graduation, including attending college, going to a vocational program, such as a trade school, or joining the military.
“Everybody wants students leaving the high school and having goals in mind and aspirations and working toward careers and financial stability of their own,” Winchenbach said.
“That’s what high school is about.”
‘That sense of fulfillment really drives me’
Joseph Schlager, a Northampton Area senior, participated in the program’s manufacturing track because he’s interested in “blue-collar” work, he said.
“The idea of making something that hundreds of thousands of people might use or benefit from — that sense of fulfillment really drives me,” Schlager, 18, said.
Schlager said he enjoyed visiting Lutron Electronics, a lighting-control system manufacturer. He was struck by the quality tests the company does on its products, such as light switches.
“It was really interesting because they’re so thorough in what they do,” Schlager said.
Schlager also enjoyed visiting Freshpet, a dog food manufacturer with a Bethlehem site.
He even taste-tested the brand’s dog food, which is safe for human consumption, describing it as akin to Italian sausage, “but tougher and chewier.”
The tour of Freshpet’s facility helped Schlager realize how complex the manufacturing of dog food can be.
“You’d think they’d just grind meat up, cook it, put it in a bag and call it a day," he said. "But they’re doing safety checks, they’re doing quality control, moving things around, [developing] recipes. It’s interesting.”
Schlager also was struck by advice from Joseph Dreher, business improvement advocate at Freshpet.
Dreher told students on a tour that they should always learn from longtime employees.
“When people are working here 10 to 14 years, they have a wealth of knowledge and experience,” Dreher said.
“What I always tell everybody to do is: you go to those people, you ask them what they're doing, you ask them a million questions, you try to clone what they’re doing.”
‘An interesting way to solve the problem’
Ethan Gibbons, 17, a Northampton Area senior, also participated in the manufacturing track. He’s interested in studying sustainability or animal science in college, he said.
On a trip to the B. Braun plant in Allentown, Gibbons and fellow students learned about the medical and pharmaceutical device company, which manufactures products such as epidural catheters and the plastic components for IV sets.
Gibbons said he was impressed by B. Braun’s sustainability practices — specifically those for making sure plastic materials don’t go to waste.
Rick Meyers, B. Braun business unit manager, said the company has partnerships with other organizations that can take its scrap resin.
“All our resin needs to be from virgin material, but there’s other companies out there [that] are allowed to remelt and reuse resin,” he said.
Shipping its scrap resin to other companies has helped B. Braun maintain a landfill-free status since 2013, Meyers said.
“It definitely stands out,” Gibbons said. “It’s an interesting way to solve the problem. You can actually [send out] what you don’t use.”
After the visit to B. Braun, Gibbons said he felt more drawn toward a career in sustainability consulting.
“I definitely came out of this knowing more than I did going in,” he said.
Follow your passions
Abbie Luipersbeck, 17, a Northampton Area senior, was in the architecture track of the summer program, which she joined to get a better understanding of subjects she could study in college.
“I was super stressed about [going] into senior year not knowing what I want to do because everybody knows what they want to do,” she said.
But she was comforted by staff members at Alloy5, an architectural and design firm, who said they didn’t have a linear career path — they may not have even studied architecture initially.
As a result, Luipersbeck learned to follow her passions, which are art, design and drawing.
She especially liked learning from Alloy5 staffers about interior design concepts, such as the use of complementary colors to impact the feel of a room.
In a presentation, Krista Best, an interior designer at Alloy5, told students her work requires a creative and technical eye.
“We have to know so much about so many different types of materials and products,” she said.
Interior designers also have to keep safety and budgets in mind while they’re choosing materials, as well.
Claire Lack, also a Northampton Area senior, said she enjoyed learning from Best about interior design.
Lack said she's naturally drawn to making spaces aesthetically pleasing.
“I love decorating my room,” she said. “I like picking out colors.”
Lack said she is undecided on which major she wants to study in college, though.
Still, she got valuable advice from Alloy5 staff members that translates to any career field, such as prioritizing internship opportunities.
For students interested in the Summer Career Mentorship Program, Lack’s advice: "Definitely do it.”
There will be smaller opportunities for students to visit partner employers throughout the school year, just as there was last academic year during the initial development of the program, coordinators said.
The full-scale career mentorship program will be available annually each summer moving forward.
