St. Albans City School Daily Announcements: Community Career Exploration

The article was published in the weekend edition of the Messenger.

Community Career Exploration

By Dave Schofield, St. Albans City School Mentor

This past October, St. Albans City School initiated a valuable new mentoring program for middle school students. The program, created by Dave Schofield a retired business owner, was developed to show young adults different job opportunities and help them connect why applying themselves in school is important to their future careers and lifestyle.

Supported by Principal Joan Cavallo, Vice Principal Georgie Andrews, and teachers Eileen Nikel and Paul Widjeskog, the first children to participate were sixth grade students Jordan Martin and Martial Martell. Over an eight week period the students were coached by Mr. Schofield in basic finance and how school and career choices will affect their lives as adults. During this time, they were given the opportunity to visit six different organizations. The School would like to thank the following local community members for their time and support in providing facility tours. Michelle Munroe - Messenger Print & Design, Leon Berthiaume - St Albans Co-operative Creamery, Bill Campbell - New England Central Railroad, Chip Sawyer - St Albans City Hall & Fire Department, David Fitzgerald - Ben & Jerry's, Ramesh Bansee - Peerless Clothing.

At the end of the experience, the boys needed to write and present a reflection on their opportunity to explore local careers. The reflections were able to convey to the audience the power of this exploration. The pilot program has shown that exposing children to various businesses could have long term benefits for the students and the community as a whole. The School and Mr. Schofield are now preparing a new group of students for a series of company tours and coaching that hopefully will excite them to make the most of their school experience and select an education path that can provide a meaningful and rewarding future. This program has created a powerful School and Community connection with benefits now and in the future.