Job shadowing turns into paid employment

Every Tuesday and Thursday from September to May, Lake City High School junior Jodi Lee climbed into her car at 9:30 a.m. and left the school’s campus. She wasn’t leaving so she could skip Anne Andren’s Accounting II class and climb back in bed for some extra sleep. Instead, she left a traditional classroom to go to another one that is quite different.
Lee is one of 85 Lake City High students who participate in a Career and Technology Education’s (CATE) work-based learning program that gives them practical work experience and allows them to earn high school credit.
Normally, shadowers spend one semester at a job location and then are assigned to another shadowing opportunity in the second semester.
In Lee’s case, Don Coker asked that she be assigned to Coker Oil for both semesters.
Lee spent those two hours each week working as a shadower at Coker Oil Company in Lake City.
She and the other shadowers are given job responsibilities and clock in just like any other employee.
At Coker Oil, Lee operates the cash register, takes gas orders from customers and dispatches delivery trucks.
Coker was impressed enough with Lee’s work ethic and job performance that he offered her a part-time job after school.
Now, she is paid to work two hours each day and will work afternoons during the summer.
“Jodi has turned out to be exceptionally well-adapted,” said office manager Trish Ard, adding that Lee initially took notes when she was first learning the ropes at Coker Oil. “She just flowed right into the job. You don’t have to tell her twice how to do something.”
Coker said his business has participated in the shadowing program for a number of years. “We’ve seen a variety of students and we always get good ones,” he said.
Coker added that his participation also gives him an opportunity to work closely with the school to provide students with real-world experiences that they can’t get in a classroom.
“There’s a big difference between learning business from a book in a classroom and getting real business experience,” he said. Coker’s business has hired a total of three students over the years as a result of their shadowing.
“This is a very good program,” Coker said. “I would recommend other businesses getting involved in it.”
Lee said the opportunity has given her experience that is impossible to get in a classroom.
“(Coker Oil) uses the workplace as a classroom to teach me about business,” Lee said. “I’ve learned how to manage money and to provide good customer service. It’s a good opportunity to do something new,” said Lee, who also has a part-time job at Piggly Wiggly. Lee added that she now plans to major in business after graduating from Lake City High next year. “This has been a great experience for me,” Lee commented. “I recommend this to other students who want to some experience and to learn what having a real job is like.”
The goal for the Work-Based Learning Program is to ensure students a seamless transition from secondary education into meaningful, high quality employment and/or further education.
Partnerships are developed at the local level to bring together educators, business/industry/labor and community-based organizations to integrate academic and occupational education and to more closely align secondary and postsecondary curricula.
The programs at the high school level provide the diversity and flexibility needed to meet the needs of most students and business/industry sponsors.
These programs include shadowing and internship. Shadowing is a short-term experience designed to introduce a student to a particular job or occupation through direct observation.
Students shadow at their sites two days a week, while receiving classroom instruction the remaining three days of the week.
The internship program provides students the opportunity to study an occupational program and to participate in a workplace setting by performing duties related to their work-related studies.
Intern students attend their sites four days a week and attend classroom instruction one day a week.
Internships benefit both the students and the business partners.
Benefits for students include improving academic achievement, realizing the relevance of their education and applying acquired knowledge in a meaningful way, exploring career options, and acquiring real workplace experience and work readiness skills.
Among the benefits for businesses who participate are better prepared employees who understand workplace expectations, reducing recruitment and training costs, deriving value from student’s work, and improving morale and management skills of current workers.
Businesses interested in participating in the internship program can contact Principal Kasey Feagin at 374-3321 extension 3000 or Anne Andren at extension 3005.