MICC teams with Junior Achievement, SA Works to mentor students

School was in session Feb. 2, but instead of a traditional lesson plan inside a school classroom, students were mentored on Fort Sam Houston by members of the U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command as part of the San Antonio Job Shadow Day.

Soldiers and Army civilians from the command hosted 27 students and two teachers from Fox Tech High School, a health and law professions magnet school in San Antonio. The classrooms for the day were offices in the historic Long Barracks, which were completed in 1887.

The MICC was one of 59 employers recruited by SA Works, in partnership with Junior Achievement, to host approximately 1,700 area teens from across San Antonio and Bexar County for a citywide job shadow day.

Officials from the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce said Job Shadow Day is one of the initiatives SA Works has implemented in an effort to address skill gaps in the current and future workforce and expose students to the academic, technical and marketable skills needed by local companies.

Fox Tech students learned about the various professions making up the Army before dividing into groups with seven mentors from the MICC headquarters and 412th Contracting Support Brigade.

The day’s activities included accomplishing three challenges in small teams with mentors as well as group discussion before culminating with a question and answer session with Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Gabbert, MICC commanding general, and the command team.

“This is a great effort and investment in our community,” Gabbert said. “Taking the time to mentor tomorrow’s leaders benefits San Antonio as well as the Army. Job Shadow Day gave our Soldiers and Army civilians the opportunity to share their vast skills and knowledge to impart on the great students from Fox Tech the importance of professionalism and developing a career.”

As part of Job Shadow Day, students visited mentors’ work areas and engaged in discussions on professionalism, ethics and interview skills.

“The Job Shadow Day was really a great opportunity for MICC leaders to share our experiences with the next generation with the hope that we can inspire and inform them,” said Col. Mike Wong, one of the mentors for the day and the MICC chief counsel. “The mentors are all well advanced in our careers, but we want to give back.”

Headquartered on Fort Sam Houston, the MICC is made up of more than 1,500 military and civilian members responsible for contracting for Soldiers. In fiscal 2015, the command executed more than 36,000 contract actions valued at more than $5.2 billion across the Army, including $2.25 billion to American small businesses.