PHOENIX – Students in the Phoenix Union High School District are working to solve business challenges for the third-largest cable television provider in the U.S.
Cox Communications is this year’s business partner for the district’s 3DE program, which places high school students in classes reflecting on real-life situations they could face in a job environment – including case studies for potential business solutions.
Throughout the semester, business partners visit classrooms to evaluate students’ proposed solutions to these business challenges, offering feedback and real-world insight. At the end of the semester, the students present their own ideas to the company, which could implement some of the concepts within its system.
The 3DE partnership between Phoenix Union High School District and Junior Achievement of Arizona seeks to make classes more relevant to students’ communities and futures.
Jeannine Watanabe with Cox Communications explained that the students’ challenge deals with how to get employees on board with the company’s energy reduction goal.
“So, they were tasked with figuring out the best way to communicate that within our whole entire team because it’s a program that’s been around for five or six years now and not everybody participates. So, we really want to make sure that there’s a creative way to get the message out to all our employees,” she said.
Phoenix high school student appreciates opportunity
Adabelle Santos, a freshman at Alhambra High School, said having the opportunity to build communication skills with group activities makes her feel she is an active participant in her community.
“The study specifically that we’re working on right now is about noise and communication. … That can help me in the future because I can think about it in my head and I can realize the different kinds of noise that I deal with and I can figure out what’s the best way to avoid those noises so I can communicate with others the best I can,” she said.
This is the first year of the program, with freshmen from Cesar Chavez and Alhambra high schools participating. The initiative will expand by one grade level each year.
Alhambra Principal Jodi Weber said the program helps increase student engagement and overall academic success.
“Students are achieving at 33% higher rates than they were, and it’s only been a semester and a half at this point,” she said.
Weber added that the students feel like they are adding to the community at a young age, which gives them more confidence to make their voices heard.
Junior Achievement of Arizona President Katherine Cecala said that, moving forward, the students will face six different challenges in their sophomore year.
“They are taking it to another level and not just learning [how] to work in teams to solve the problem, but in the sophomore year they’re doing some ‘how do I work independently and in teams to solve the problem,’ and they have different core competencies that are worked through and the challenges are more difficult,” she said.
Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.
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