SOREDI Quest Released in Southern Oregon Schools

Students embark on multimedia business adventure

Medford OR – In response to ongoing feedback regarding the rates at which career minded young people leave Southern Oregon, believing there are more exciting possibilities elsewhere, commonly referred to as “brain drain,” SOREDI has embarked on a plan to inform high school students and their families about the reality of businesses thriving in Jackson and Josephine Counties.

With the assistance of sponsors and community supporters, over one thousand high school students from North Medford High School, South Medford High School, Grants Pass High School and Eagle Point High School are being released to begin an online information scavenger hunt at www.soredi.org/quest. After forming into teams, each group of students will have to scour up to forty-five business profiles produced by SOREDI in order to answer their trivia questions. After their questions are finished, each team of students will produce a video featuring one of the profiled companies. The SOREDI Quest competition heats up during the video portion of the project.

As each video is approved, it will also be posted to the SOREDI Facebook page, where it can be shared by sponsors, community partners, students, parents and friends. The top three videos that receive the most page views will earn scholarships for every member of the team. The top team will receive a scholarship in the amount of $750 per student. The second place team will receive $500 scholarships for each student and the third place team will receive $250 scholarships for each student. This scholarship money has been provided by local companies that have generously sponsored SOREDI Quest: Allcare Health, Boise Cascade, Carestream, Diode Laser Concepts, Dutch Bros., Erickson, Hunter Communications, Quantum Innovations, Timber Products, and Zeal. These companies will be featured in the video portion of SOREDI Quest. Oregon Swiss Precision, Providence Health & Services, and Southern Oregon Education Services District have provided additional sponsor support.

“From the perspective of the School District, SOREDI Quest is helpful on multiple levels. By providing relevant, updated and local occupational information, this project helps meet Oregon Diploma requirements for Career Education,” says Hal Jones, Pathways Coordinator for Medford School District 549c. Jones continues, “Perhaps more importantly, from a community standpoint, it’s enormously beneficial that students connect their own interests and skills to prospective, high-wage, high-demand careers right here in Southern Oregon. In addition, because SOREDI Quest requires students to work in groups and apply employability skills e.g., collaboration, communication, problem solving, etc…they gain valuable inter-personal experience and career information. SOREDI/Quest is a wonderful example of how business/education partnerships benefit students and the communities in which they live. “

Scholarships will be announced and awarded at the SOREDI Quest Finale Gala on Friday, December 14. At this event, the top video featuring each participating company will be shown and scholarship winners will present their videos to the community. The audience will choose one video to receive an additional People’s Choice Award, which will provide a $500 scholarship to each student on that team. Representatives from featured companies will also be available to answer student and parent questions in a focused Career Fair, as part of the Finale Celebration.

For more information on SOREDI Quest, visit www.soredi.org/quest

SOREDI is a private, membership based, 501c (4) non-profit organization, governed by a 28-member board of directors. Its eight-person staff is charged with local business expansion and new business recruitment efforts, financial assistance to start-up companies through its business loan fund, and management of Enterprise Zones in Jackson and Josephine Counties. The agency was formed as a regional economic development agency in 1987.