Working in the Real World

By Hailey Guit and Kayla Nalepa

Dylan Prather prepares to view and operation as part of her experience.

Dylan Prather prepares to view and operation as part of her experience.

While most students go home and turn on Netflix after school, Senior Joan Griffin spends her afternoons building and creating site maps for a Dunkin Donuts.

Griffin is part of the Community Mentorship Program. The program allows seniors to explore possible careers and to gain valuable life experiences. “I did civil engineering at Collison Oliff and Associates in Prince Fredrick because I think I want to do that in college,” Griffin said. “It definitely helped me learn the software for civil engineering. I got to understand the step by step process for making buildings and site maps.”

In order to be able to participate in the mentorship program, you need to meet a number of requirements. “There was an application online with questions we had to answer and teacher ratings,” senior Jenna Dolinar said. The requirements include participating in two honors or advanced placement courses junior year, maintaining a cumulative GPA of 88% or higher, having an interview with the mentorship coordinator and scoring well on ratings submitted by teachers.

Once they are in the program, students get to choose what they want to mentor in. Some students choose medical careers like dentistry or neuro-science, while others choose careers in the engineering field. Not all students are able to find a mentor to complete the program with. Senior Chris Crunkleton applied and was accepted into the program, but wasn’t able to find a mentor. “I wanted to do mechanical engineering, but we couldn’t find anyone to do the mentorship with,” he said. “It’s a good program. It helps inspire kids to do more and reach their goals. I still want to go into that field and plan on majoring in it in college.”

Senior Cali Magee interned in teaching at Mount Harmony Elementary School.

Senior Cali Magee interned in teaching at Mount Harmony Elementary School.

According to the coordinator, Susan Cross, the program allows approximately 40 students each year to be involved in hands-on experiences. The number of students is divided between the four high schools in Calvert County. Students can take their mentorship in the spring, fall or summer but they have to meet the required 30-50 hours in the mentorship experience. Often, the mentor asks the student to stay longer to learn more about the possible career.  Some students have also been offered part-time paid work where they were mentoring.

The program allows the mentees to get an educational experience through work-based learning. “I mentor at the Old South Country Club in Upper Marlboro,” Senior Brooke Long said. “Sometimes in Hospitality I shadow an event coordinator and get to sit in on wedding tastings. I’ll help to set up the event and sometimes do paperwork.” Each student’s experience is different. In some cases they can participate in hands-on activities but mainly they do research, interviews and shadowing.

“I went to KMH recording studio in Lusby for audio engineering,” Dolinar said. “I learned how to work software, how to work different types of equipment and for my final project, I got to record a band that goes to this school.”

Mentees have a variety of options and the program is designed to help them fulfill goals and to gain experience in the work force. Kristin Olson, Alana Chang, Devin Prather and Mao Qi Yam are all mentoring in the medical field. They are able to see what goes on in the hospital and some of them may view a surgery to see what goes on in the operating room.

The mentorship program also helps students decide what they’re going to major in during college. “The program has definitely helped me decide to continue it in college and major in hospitality,” Long said. It can also help students to decide on a major. “I did occupational and physical therapy because I’m trying to chose my major and pick between the two,” Senior Jessica Mothershead said. “I now know that I’d like to go into occupational.”

For more information about the Community Mentorship Program, visit the Career and Technology Academy’s official website.

 

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