Greenwood High School agriculture teacher Paul Goins (right) and Warren Central High School principal Mike Stevenson check out an assembly line Friday, June 16, 2017, during an SCK Launch educator externship at Henkel Corporation. (Bac Totrong/photo@bgdailynews.com)

Conveyor belts carried small packages of laundry soap in every direction Friday as local educators toured Henkel Corp. through SCK Launch, a program that aims to make high school students more employable by connecting schools to local industry leaders’ needs.

“We’re recognizing that there are different paths” to success, said Warren Central High School Principal Mike Stevenson, one of four county school employees on the tour. “I think kids have been missing this element for a long time.”

The educators at Henkel were among 26 school leaders touring local companies, such as Holiday Inn University Plaza, Med Center Health and U.S. Bank, through education externships this week.

Stevenson’s group also included Ron Tipton of Greenwood High School, Paul Goins of Greenwood High School and Ed Hendrick of Warren Central High School.

Career shadowing, student-led leadership and teacher externships are some of the approaches used in the program. Through the externships, the idea is to let educators observe a workplace and the skills involved and then take those lessons into their classrooms.

Sandra Baker, director of education and workforce for the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, toured the facility as a former high school math teacher. She knows teachers are educating students about critical soft skills they need to succeed in a job, such as interviewing and writing resumes.

What teachers lack, she said, are powerful relationships with local businesses that can help inform their efforts. The goal, she said, is to ensure that “every single student graduates with these skills.”

Students need to know how to brand themselves to employers, she said.

“They won’t know if you don’t know how to tell them,” she said.

On the factory floor, rows of conveyor belts spiraled upward, carrying cardboard boxes or delivering soap packages to revolving machines ready to pump them into bags branded by All. The factory’s automation meant few of the workers worked the machines themselves and instead monitored the product’s quality or drove forklifts.

Before touring the factory floor, the educators met with Henkel administrators, including Lisa Timberlake, the senior manager of human resources.

During the discussion, Timberlake stressed the importance of job applicants presenting themselves as confident professionals and described Henkel as a good place to work.

“You need to come selling yourself to get a $15-an-hour job,” she said, at one point handing sample interview questions that the company’s recruiters might ask of job applicants.

After finishing the tour, Stevenson said it reinforced the idea that college might not be the best path for every student to be successful and that schools should do more to help students navigate their future.

“I think our community is really trying to give kids more opportunities,” he said.