From the Dubuque Area Labor-Management Council

Careers Closer to Home?

Follow the fortunes of those who stuck around after high school and college or returned to their hometown to pursue their dreams...

any students fall into that trap thinking to fulfill one's dreams, one must leave home... leave friends and family behind... those wonderful support systems we've spent a lifetime building to perhaps make new friends. Then you discover the disadvantages of that strategy... the increased cost of living, the traffic, the stress, the expensive return trips home to be with family and friends on holidays or any time you have free. You've often heard, "Dubuque is a great place to live and raise a family." Well, it's true, and you don't realize it until you leave it.

The turtle downloads a complete movie, no streaming. This is best for telephone modems. After saving this file, you can play it with RealPlayer (see panel at right for free software). The rabbit button is a streaming movie. If you have high-speed web access such as DSL, it will begin playing immediately. The rocket button is for high-speed networks (like our schools have), DSL, and cable modems. It's the largest size streaming movie file with full-stereo audio. Further instructions are below on how to play video and audio files that appear on our website.

Download the big movie for your personal archive (requires high-speed access to the web).

The irony is, local employers spend millions recruiting people from the places you are going to! Is that whack or what? Why don't the companies recruit from the locals? They would save a fortune and have really wonderful employees who have the local support they need to lead happy and rewarding lives.

The problem with this scenario is, young people in the Tri-State Area don't know or have not considered sticking around after high school or college. We've got great educational opportunities, not to mention safe neighborhoods, and top flight recreational opportunities. It's not Chicago or New York, but actually, that may be working in Dubuque's favor.

The Dubuque Labor Management Council with the help of Loras College has produced an interesting new video aimed at high school and college-age students in our area. "We are hosting this video on the Dubuque School District Website," explains Superintendent of Schools, John Burgart, "because we wholeheartedly support the message it sends to area students to consider pursuing their career aspirations in the Dubuque community." The video is about the job and career opportunities for students here in the Tri-State Area.

According to the Director of the DLMC, Chuck Isenhart, "Communities like ours have been experiencing a 'brain drain' largely due to students' inaccurate perceptions that in order to pursue their careers, they had to move away from their home town. It's always been a popular almost traditional notion among our youth that to truly succeed in life, one must leave the town in which the grew up. The irony is, many secretly don't want to leave because they realize what we have here and that their support system of family and friends are irreplaceable.

 
Students co-anchor the video that features interviews with people, several of whom, moved away from Dubuque after school but returned to pursue their careers in their home towns. Jobs from skilled labor to medical and publishing careers, technology, even truck driving and transportation are covered.
Above, one of the student hosts "cuts up" during one of the more humorous segments. The video was produced by the Loras College Video Production Lab with help from a grant from the Dubuque Racing Association.
Instructions For Those Outside of Our School Network (The General Public)

We are now providing a choice of RealPlayer applications for you to download and install on your computer to enable you to view the video and audio files. One is RealPlayer8 and the other is RealOne Player, which is an excellent player with many new features. It's easy to install, so just follow the on-screen steps. You will be required to register with Real.com, but these are free software applications (there are versions you can pay for if you choose, but they are not necessary for basic viewing and listening).

Which Player is Best for Me?

Of the two types of free players available, RealPlayer 8 is the traditional player that is free and will work beautifully to access Web based multimedia files from our site. There is also a new player available, which is also free, called RealONE. Either player will probably work for your operating system. If your system is older (Windows 95, NT), however, you may want to use the RealPlayer 8 software. If you are running a newer, faster system like Windows 98, ME, XP, or 2000, go for the RealOne player.

Macintosh Owners:

You can get a RealPlayer for Macintosh, Visit Real.com to download their free player options. Remember, look for the FREE players. They are sometimes difficult to find on their Web site.

Oh, and one more thing... sometimes when you click on a sound or video file in our Web site with the RealPlayer installed, you get a little commercial window that pops up on your desktop. It's annoying, but a small price to pay for the privilege of having the free RealPlayer on your system. Just click it off, and it will disappear.

Instructions For Machines on our School Network (Teachers and Staff)
We are recommending (and IT is supporting) RealPlayer8. This is for ALL computers on our network (in all school and administration buildings throughout the District). This includes all Windows 2000 machines. Click here to get the free player from our network server. If you do not have administrative priveleges, please call your building media specialist to help you.

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If you are an employee of the Dubuque Community School Distrct, The Hub is for you. You need your building name
and password to gain access. Ask your school secretary or media specialist for that information.