Making a decision on a career is a major decision many of us are tasked with when we are 18 or 19 years old.  These young people need some help making the best decision for themselves and to discuss this I was joined by Gail Cruikshank, Talent Director for the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation and Shantelle Kane, Associate Director of Employer Relations at St. Cloud State.

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Gail Cruikshank and Shantelle Kane (photo - Jay Caldwell)
Gail Cruikshank and Shantelle Kane (photo - Jay Caldwell)
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How Students Prefer to Learn

Gail says 75% of students say they prefer to learn about careers from someone in the field. Through EPIC GSDC are building strong relationships between employers and high school students but she feels they need to take this model and apply it to our post secondary institutions. She says too many students complete their post secondary education and then realize they don’t like the job they were trained for or had no idea the day to day job would look as it does.

Bringing Education Partners Together

Cruikshank says GSDC is working to bring education partners together with our local employers to introduce and engage them in the student’s educational experience to hopefully make introductions, shadow a person in the field, hear from an industry expert in the classroom or experience an internship hopefully resulting in more positive alignment with graduates as they enter their desired field. Cruikshank feels the more students know and connect with local employers, the higher the chance they will stay here upon graduation.

Myths About SCSU

Shantelle cites examples; First, we want to debunk some myths about SCSU and who our students actually ARE, so as an employer, you know what types of students you’d be engaging with and helping. She indicates 80% of SCSU students come from within a 60-mile radius of St Cloud, 27% of SCSU students are over 25, 10.1% of students live on campus, 90% commute to campus or take classes online (or a combination of both), 37.65% of our students are diverse with only 10% international students coming for education.  Kane says 38% of our students are first generation college students.

Success for SCSU Students

Kane says the SCSU Mass Communications Department had 16 student production nominations across 11 categories from the Upper Midwest Emmy Foundation. They took home 6 Upper Midwest Emmy ® Student Production Awards for sports broadcasting talent, production, and writing.

SCSU Finance Students

St. Cloud State finance students manage the Husky Growth Fund, a university owned portfolio, valued at approximately $400,000.  Kane says the science and engineering students take part in Huskies Hack, Huskies Invent, and a Research Colloquium each year.   She says 97% of SCSU's college of education and learning design students have found employment in their field of study within the first year of graduation. As of April 30th 2025, SCSU’s Nursing Program ranked #3 (out of 20) as one of the best Nursing schools in the state of MN.

SCSU's college of Health and Wellness offers the community an Autism Discovery Center, and a Speech and Language Clinic. Students work in these spaces alongside certified professionals to gain hands on learning while in their programs.

What Employers Can Do

Cruikshank encourages St. Cloud area employers to get involved with local high school and colleges to connect with the future workforce.  She says if employers would like to learn more about how they can connect, please contract her and/or Shantelle.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Gail and Shantelle, click below.

 

 

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