NORWAY – As country singer Keith Urban crooned from the speakers, Holly Roberts succinctly summed up her 3-week-old experience working at WOXO radio. “It’s really cool,” the 17-year-old student from Oxford said Wednesday.
Roberts is one of two Oxford Hills Technical School students who are learning work ethics in a real-life job setting, part of a stepped-up effort by the school to expand its Diversified Occupations program for special-needs students.
“This is an experience meant to be positive for everybody,” said Denice LeBlanc, the program’s job developer who is leading the program’s expansion. She said the program had formerly been done on a small scale, but the school is taking steps to expand it to prepare students for the work force after graduation.
The program tries to match students with job sites where they have an interest. Roberts said she likes radio but is undecided about a career path at this point.
Another student with an interest in teaching is currently working at Guy E. Rowe Elementary School in Norway as an “extra set of hands” for a teacher, and a third student is tentatively scheduled to begin working at White’s Marina in Norway later this spring, LeBlanc said.
The program is designed to prepare students for entry-level work in the community by helping them develop employment skills, initiative and a team-oriented attitude. Students spend one to two days per week on the job and work for about two hours, although the schedules are flexible, LeBlanc said.
Students spend four to six weeks at their job sites. Jay Phillips, operations manager at WOXO, said he didn’t hesitate when LeBlanc approached him about being an on-site supervisor for Roberts.
“I appreciate being able to teach a younger generation about all that goes on,” he said, gesturing to several computer screens surrounding his on-air microphone. “This is more or less the start of a potentially long career she can have in radio or television or whatever she wants to do.”
At the end of the assignment, students receive a grade based on their performance and weekly evaluations done by the on-site supervisor with LeBlanc’s involvement.
Businesses interested in participating in the program may contact LeBlanc by phone at 743-7756, ext. 2109, or via e-mail at [email protected].
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