Independent Study and Mentorship students took part in a business symposium at Independence High School on Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The business symposium allowed ISM students to work with business professionals on mock interviews, resumes, and networking skills.

“The purpose of the Independent Study and Mentorship Business Symposium is to provide our ISM students with a real world experience with mock interviews, business networking and resume critiques,” ISM teacher Brian Wysong said. “Professionals from the Dallas-Fort Worth conduct the interviews with our students. They get to learn what professional interviews are like and will hopefully better understand how to control their stress and nerves when communicating with a successful professional.”

With the ultimate goal of being prepared for the future, students learn how to market themselves to colleges and future employers.

“There was a professional guest speaker that educated our ISM students on how to market yourself and interact with people in the professional world,” Wysong said. “The ultimate purpose is to provide practice for our ISM students for college admission interviews, scholarship interviews and job interviews.”

The business symposium featured previous ISM students that provided an example of how the program has been helpful in the real world.

“It gave us the chance to network with people who have succeeded thanks to the ISM program,” senior Cullen Woodward said. “They help to prepare us for what’s ahead and show us that our work now will eventually pay off.”

Throughout the school year, ISM students conduct research with a mentor in a chosen career field, and piece together a final project based on what they have learned, allowing them to dive deeper into their future field of study.

“I chose to do ISM to get real world experience in my field,” senior Paige Guerra said. “I’m studying neuropsychology, which can be a difficult field to step into unprepared, and ISM and the things we go to like business symposiums help me to feel better prepared.”