We are looking for forward-thinking business partners that want to build partnerships with local schools, specifically with STEM teachers! For 2026, teachers will complete a 20 day internship from June 8th through July 8th (with a few days in the middle reserved for professional development at UA Little Rock).
Please note that this is not a job shadowing experience for teachers, but a hands on experience for them to explore the working environment in your field.
All of our teachers have at least 3 years of teaching experience, and are some of the best in their field!
- Propose a job/project/plan for a middle or high school STEM teacher that will allow them to get hands on experience in your field. This is not a prolonged job shadowing experience.
- The job/project/plan the teacher will work on needs to include skills in Science, Technology, Engineering or Math broadly speaking.
- Contact Dr. Mark Baillie at UA Little Rock to discuss ideas (brainstorm) or to become part of the partner network!
- Simply put, we want teachers to be more aware of the applications of the skills they teach in Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) classes. We are calling these STEM skills.
- Plumbers and carpenters use a huge amount of geometry, proportions, and record-keeping in their daily jobs.
- Your marketing team may use computer-aided design to create graphics for distribution. They may also use statistical analysis of the impact of their marketing campaigns.
- Positions like chemists, biologists, engineers, medical doctors, accountants, etc. may be easier to see the direct connection to STEM skills.
- Be creative! If you can reasonably argue that a teacher working in a particular area of your business for 20 days will make them have a better appreciation of what they can do in their classrooms to help their students be more marketable with their technical and problem-solving skills, we are open to working with you!
- STRIVE funding will pay teacher stipends for their summer placement!
- Businesses will need to submit a quote for anticipated costs of hosting a teacher for the summer. This needs to be done before the teacher starts on site.
- Business need to pay teachers $2,016 for their 20 days on site (144 hours at $15 per hour). Business will then invoice STRIVE for this cost.
- If you require workers comp insurance for teachers to be on site, we can discuss how this will be handled (typically involves a temp agency, and costs can be carried by STRIVE if necessary)
- The STRIVE team will work with you to develop proposed projects for one or more teachers.
- This is not a 20 day job shadowing experience. This is a chance for teachers to get their hands on experience to help them better understand the STEM workforce needs.
- Think about project that your company may need extra help with or haven’t been able to tackle yet due to person power limitations. Their experience at your company will help provide them with many examples of what they can do to better prepare the upcoming generation of Arkansas workers to be future employees at your business and other businesses in the state.
- Contact Mark Baillie or Mary French to begin these conversations.
- Teachers will begin applying to STRIVE in the Winter of the prior year.
- Teacher select: we can either assign teachers to work at your site, or we can provide you with applicant information so you can make the select with our assistance if desired.
- Businesses will confirm assigned teacher placements before we notify teachers.
- Teacher and business negotiate logistics of placement (i.e. exact schedule, expectations, any required training before working on site, etc.)
- Timing of the placement: 20 days. If needed, we can shift forward or backward a few days to accommodate business and teacher schedules.
- Starts on June 8th, 2026.
- Ends on July 8th, 2026.
- Teachers should get an immersive experience of what it is like to work in your organization. Hence hours of work, safety training, and other expectations need to be clearly defined and agreed upon beforehand.
- All teachers will attend in person professional development during the dates of June 18th, June 19th, July 9th and July 10th to achieve maximum impact in the classroom from the placement.
- 10% of teacher time during the placement will be reserved for working on developing a classroom activity/unit.
- 5-10% of teacher time should be spent learning about other workers at your company. We want the teachers to see the diversity of jobs that require STEM skills, so rotating with 3-4 other workers for a few hours will enhance their awareness of those jobs.
2026 STRIVE Business Partners
