Ms. Abigail Taylor invited former Grand Ledge student, Harper McNamara, to talk to her basic econ classes. McNamara works at The Chipotle Mexican Grill in Lansing Michigan. He fought to create a labor union. Chipotle is the first fast food chain to be unionized.
To share this achievement, McNamara came to Ms. Taylor’s Econ classes to share what he has been doing in his position. Currently, they are learning about nonprofits and unions.
“A lot of students don’t have a lot of background information about unions and because a lot of people will be asked if they want to join a union when they get a job someday, I thought it was important,” Taylor said.
McNamara is a former student of Ms. Taylor’s, who notes that he was a great student.
“ He was a student that was always participating and always paying attention, but the thing I remember most about him was he was really intellectual, he liked to have discussions and talk about concepts,” Taylor said.
Ms. Taylor also shares her reaction to this accomplishment
“When I heard that he was starting this union I was so impressed but also not surprised because he’s the kind of kid that I would imagine would do things that make a difference,” Taylor said.
Some of the key takeaways McNamara talked about were what a union is, the benefits of it, and how to form a union.
McNamara wanted to come in and speak to students about his experience while also showing aspects of problem-solving in the workplace.
Recognizing the accomplishments of former students, such as McNamara, and letting them speak on their experience helps teach students different ways they can have an effect in the world. While also opening up exposure to different career paths. Students seem to benefit from having people speak on real world problems and accomplishments.
