Life Skills, Job Skills and More
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Klamath Works, Falcon Heights Academy partner in new class This month, Trinity Rosas, 17, started a new job with Integral Youth Services. She’s the only girl on the four-person crew tasked with cleaning up Klamath Falls.
“I feel pretty accomplished,” she said.
Trinity got the job thanks to a new career training and life skills class run by Klamath Works at Falcon Heights Academy. Sarah Flanders, Klamath Works job coach, has led the class of eight students to find their future paths in life.
Flanders helped Trinity fill out her application and write a resume and cover letter. After they turned it in, IYS called Trinity for an interview.
“Sarah, what do I do now?” Trinity recalled asking.
Flanders gave her advice on what to wear and they ran through mock interview questions for two hours. Then Trinity headed to the interview.
“I went in. I knew what I was going to say. I felt confident,” Trinity said. “All the questions they asked me were questions me and Sarah went over. I totally aced it.”
Trinity isn’t alone in her success. Andrenette James, 19, is job shadowing at Klamath County Fire District No. 1 as she prepares to get EMT training from Klamath Community College. Michael Christensen, 17, is enrolling in a Job Corps program to learn culinary skills. Collin Thompson, 18, completed an internship and is starting classes at Scala’s Automotive in the fall.
“We all got somewhere in this class,” Trinity said. “It helped us do something with our lives.”
Adulting 101
Falcon Heights is the Klamath County School District’s alternative school. Students come to Falcon often far behind on credits, usually during their junior or senior year. Falcon staff work to get the students back on track toward a diploma or GED.
The class with Klamath Works builds on that mission by guiding students toward a career.
The first class ran the second semester of the 2017-18 school year, finishing with eight students. Starting in the fall it will be a year-round class at Falcon.
“It’s a preparation for them to develop job skills and be work ready after graduation,” said Joe Tacchini, Falcon Heights Academy principal.
The class includes lessons on how to apply for a job and interview, how to communicate with adults (including parents and bosses), how to perform life tasks like changing a tire, and how young people should present themselves on social media. It also includes excursions to businesses in Klamath Falls so students can explore career options.
“We joke and call our class ‘Adulting 101,’” said Tara Russo, special project manager with Klamath Works.
“Just basic life skills,” Trinity said. “But it’s stuff that nobody knows. You don’t learn it in high school.”
Parents teach some of the skills, Russo said, but sometimes it takes an outside person giving advice for teenagers to take it in.
“Just having someone else point out these basic ideas on what you can do for yourself as a young person and point people in the right direction,” she said.
“I didn’t talk at them, I talked with them,” Flanders said. “It’s been very enlightening. They teach me something every day, just as they say I’m teaching them.”
Flanders said students felt more comfortable asking questions in this class. They set aside apprehensions and were able to ask without worrying about being judged as a “stupid question.”
“We got to sit down and openly discuss,” Flanders said. “They were able to talk amongst each other and there were no stupid questions.”
“We spend a lot of time with baby steps,” Russo said. “If you want to do this, how are we going to get there?”
Life skills
One of the most important life skills Flanders taught was effective communication, she said. She addressed it each week, running through scenarios and real problems the students faced.
“If you don’t call in late for work, you’re going to get fired,” she said. “If you don’t have an open communication with your supervisor, they’re going to think you don’t care about your job. So being able to talk to someone – which I found is something that is very hard for them to open up – that’s the most important thing.”
“I’ve learned about not burning bridges,” Michael said. “You’re professional. You’re being nice about it.”
Stress management was another important lesson.
“I think my favorite part was stress,” Andrenette said. “Handling stress with everything: school, home life, friend life.”
“A lot of them are very stressed. It’s hard being a kid,” Flanders said. “When stress comes up, how do you deal with it at work or at home? Don’t let it disable you so you lose a good job.”
Job skills
Many of those life skills transferred directly to job skills. Students learned how to budget and the importance of saving for retirement.
“It’s crazy how much you spend a month on bills,” Collin said.
They also took trips to local businesses to see what jobs are available and what training it takes to get those jobs.
“It’s a really, really great opportunity for our kids to network, to develop those skills and to make sure they are more job and career ready when they leave us,” Tacchini said.
One field trip to the fire station led Andrenette to job shadow with EMTs. Now she is looking into classes at KCC to earn a certificate. Colin signed up for automotive classes after visiting Scala Automotive.
“Klamath Work is trying to educate young people on their options when it comes to vocational classes and specifically training that’s not necessarily the traditional college path,” Russo said. “So that they can immediately be professional and make a good living.”
“Our kids have been really excited about it,” Tacchini said. “Sometimes when students are caught up in the world of grades and credits, it’s hard for them to see real-life application. This program connects with them on a different level. They’re able to see these are skills that are going to help me, not just land a job, but keep a job.”
Press release and photography provided from Samantha Tipler, Public Relations, Klamath County School District.