Katie Huggins

For the first two weeks of October, the Student Success Center hosts a job shadowing event for all students to take part in. L.E.O. Week is a free job shadowing opportunity where students can spend the day with different professions, ranging from police officers to local museum operators.
L.E.O Week contains opportunities to help students engage and get a head-start in the workforce. The third annual L.E.O. Week is this year. The Success Center has events in both the fall and the spring.
The idea was jump-started by Dr. Rickey McCreless when he first came to UNA. The idea was idly floating around until he took action to get it started. He believes that L.E.O. Week is an opportunity that not enough students are taking advantage of.
“I wish students knew the value of the opportunity in front of them,” said McCreless.
The Student Success Center is offering job shadowing time slots for companies like Tasus, an auto manufacturer, Sherwin Williams, UNA’s Student Success Center, Huntsville Police Department and the Florence Police Department. There have also been previous availabilities with local family practice clinics, Yedla hotels and others. The Success Center would like to add more companies for job shadowing in the future.
One of UNA’s goals is to “increase experiential learning and workforce development opportunities for students,” and Leo Week is curated to do just that.
“Connections are key,” said McCreless.