PORT RICHEY - Guest speakers are a regular part of the school week at Renaissance Academy. The private Performing Arts and Science preparatory school brings in guests from all walks of life.
Last week, the topic was young people entering the job market. The guest speakers were Megan Daniel of Career Central and Denise Szulis, Youth Connections program manager for Henkels & McCoy Training Services. Henkels & McCoy is a private company that works with work force boards across the state, including the Pasco Hernando Work Force Board, under which Career Central operates.
"We've been working with Career Central's youth program," Szulis said. "We've been working with kids in the 16-to-21 age group to get them ready for the work force."
They didn't need to bring any visual aids with them because the school already has an excellent example of what the program is all about. Since the start of the school year, the students have been getting to know Hollyanda Drake, who had been doing a six-week internship at the school. Along with clerical chores, she has been helping the art and music teachers and even giving guitar lessons.
With Drake's internship coming to an end, Szulis and Daniel were happy to cap their presentation by announcing the school has decided to permanently hire Drake. And to show their admiration for the way she made the most of the opportunity, they presented Drake with a laptop computer to help her in her future professional and academic endeavors.
"Her case is distinctive because she did everything right," Daniel said. She impressed her superiors, she was so professional. She took everything we taught her in that one-week class and made the most of it. She exhibited a high level of professionalism, and because of that she was hired.
"In six weeks, she went from having absolutely no prospects and not knowing what to do or where to go with her life, and now having a job and a career."
Young people entering the work force, Daniels said, always face the Catch-22 of entry-level workers: It takes experience to get a job, but it takes a job to get experience. In today's extremely competitive job market, the prospects for young people with little or no job history or skills are bleak.
The program is designed for those whose challenge is compounded - because of their financial situation, homelessness, lack of marketable skills or other factors, they qualify as "at-risk."
"We took 125 kids," Szulis said. "Half of them went to work at various job sites; half of them went to a classroom environment." They had the opportunity to get in a classroom with instructors and spend five weeks on credential programs, resume-building, technology and office skills.
Drake was among those placed at a job site. The program tries to match workers to their interests.
"I really was interested in art and music," Drake said. "And children - I really like kids, I like to help them out."
In that way, Renaissance Academy seemed like a good fit for her. It turned out better than anyone expected.
"She just fit right in," said Principal Lori Ekblad. When she started, Drake didn't have great office skills, but her attitude was phenomenal. She tried everything she was told to do, and when she didn't know how to do something, she wasn't afraid to ask. She's a quiet young woman by nature, but in the classrooms, her passion for the arts comes through when she works with the students.
"Hire the attitude, train the skill," Ekblad said, and it's a credo that's working out well. "I'm pleased."
This been a good year for the youth program. Of 125 participants, 90 were placed at job sites; 27 of them, including Drake, were hired. An additional 18 decided to enroll in post-secondary education, and 93 nationally recognized credentials were earned.
That's what the program is all about, Szulis said - helping young people find direction and to create the tools to get there.
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