STS Enterprise featured on WREG Channel 3
Greater Memphis On A Mission: STS Enterprise
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Every Tuesday, as part of our ‘Greater Memphis on a Mission’ series, we highlight organizations making the mid-south better. This week, we caught up with a group that believes in setting the standard. “Barbering is just not about the money or the looks or anything. It’s about the passion because you can learn a lot from a barber. And I know, like, as a black man sitting in that chair, that’s our throne. We don’t have, we don’t really have a safe space. That can be our only safe space,” said Trenton Alexander. Alexander is a senior at Freedom Prep High School and is interested in becoming a barber. He was able to get hands-on learning thanks to STS Enterprise.STS Enterprise is a nonprofit organization that offers immersive career exploration programs for teens and young adults. Jeremy Calhoun is the president and CEO.
“There’s a narrative that Memphis needs to have more; it needs to have better prepared talent to be able to help companies recruit locally,” Calhoun stated. “We believe that careers influence lifestyles. If we want to help our young people have better lifestyles, we’ve got to help them pick better careers.”
Their STS “Strive” program, designed for grades 8 -12, meets on Saturdays to help students develop leadership skills and explore careers. The career exploration aspect of STS Enterprise is what caught the attention of Roderick Barber, head of school for Freedom Prep High School. They’ve been in partnership for the last three years.
“We had an opportunity to visit the cosmetology department and a barbering school at one of the local barbershops,” Barber mentioned. “And there were students who I’ve never seen that light from who showed up on time, fully dressed, and came back with just so much excitement, talking about not only just the skill of barbering, but also an entrepreneurship side and just the business side of things.”
For college students trying to figure out a path, they also have their STS “Elite” program.
“The focus here is leadership and workforce readiness. The goal is to get these students ready. We say day one, ready for the workforce,” Calhoun added. “We partner with companies to actually help them train and develop the students that they’ll be working with.” That is why Brown Missionary Baptist Church and the Mid South Genesis CDC donated $1,000 to STS Enterprise, because starting to explore a career in middle school will lead you to become day one ready.
Courtesy of WREG New Channel 3.
