Thank You To Our Interviewers

This week, the students reviewed their observations/grade sheets from their interviewers.  We looked them over, discussed them, and then had the students create thank you letters to their interviewers.

The students were interacted with the lesson and also provided input to creating the thank you letter.  We reviewed the parts of a thank you letter by having the students stand and after they gave their guess at the name of the section, they sat down.  We also had a student come to the front of the class to be our typist while the others said what they liked, learned, or enjoyed about participating in mock interviews.

Once again, the students and myself would like to say thank you to those who participated and you will be getting your thank you letters shortly.

KTC + MRS Update: Where We Were and Where We're Going

Where we were: 
On Monday March 28th, we told 62 students that based on their behavior and completion of assignments in both my ELA/Career Prep program and their content area class, that they were recommended for the possibility of paid summer employment with Kent ISD and Michigan Rehabilitation Services.

Out of the 62, we were only allowed to have 30 students in the paid summer employment program and that the spots would be on a first-come first-serve basis.  Dr Kiley, the Work Based Learning Staff, and myself recommended the students take MRS employment packets home during Spring Break so they could complete it, have parents sign, and to allow them time to get their social security card, birth certificate, or state I.D. around so that a copy could be submitted to MRS.

Where we are now: 
Currently, as of Friday 4/22/2016, we have 30 applications in and some more on the way.  MRS was so pleased with the turn out that they are also allowing us to take 3-4 more (34 total).  Some students were so motivated to get this job, that we had one student turn their packet in the day after the meeting!

I am so proud of our students and the effort they are showing.  MRS is even hoping to partner with us more next year and offer us support in some areas where they have more expertise.  It is a very exciting time!  Thank you to the students and the parents for being open to this possibility!

Nailed It!: KTC Students Participate in Mock Interview #2

This past week, the students at KTC participated in their second mock interviews.  The students used the feedback sheets from the interviews in their first interviews to help them understand what they could do better and as a class, we talked about what not to say, brainstormed answer options, and composed our responses into complete sentences.

KTC also had businesses and organizations participate in our second round of interviews.  In the first round of interviews, we mainly had Kent ISD staff  and KSSN staff assist in interviewing our students.  In these second round of interviews, we had businesses that were excited to participate with our school to give our students this real life experience.

Some of the businesses and organization who participated were:

Valvoline Instant Oil Change (3 personnel)
Grand Rapids Building Services
The Waterworks Car Wash
D&W (SpartanNash)
Custom Profile
Kent ISD (Custodial department--2 personnel)
West Michigan Works! (3 personnel)
KSSN


Some of the KISD staff who volunteered to interview students were:

Kim Westdorp
Dena Harris
Amy Pierce
Craig Steenstra
Meghan Aupperlee
Marla Salmon
Linda Nawrocki
Tim Peraino
Ryan VanderMolen



This year, more than one student from every class impressed the interviewers!  Even more exciting, I was told by 3 different interviewers of 3-4 students that they would love to hire based on what they saw and heard in the interviews!


It was such a great week and it was so beneficial for our students.  Thank you to all who participated and made this a great real-life learning experience for our students.

KTC Students Ride the Rapid

MRS and KTC have increased their partnership with each other this year and are offering our students to have a paid summer job working at Kent ISD for our students.  These students who were recommended completed various MRS criteria and exhibited positive behaviors that would make them a great candidate for the jobs offered this summer.

In order to be recommended, one of the things that had to be discussed would be the development of a plan for their transportation to and from a job.  KTC has also partnered with the Rapid Bus to show our students how to Ride the Rapid, apply for reduced bus fare, and be aware of who to contact to give them the training outside of our walls.

Two classes, due to the Good Friday holiday, combined and had Rapid Trainers talk to them and teach them about riding the bus within the building while the other classes took a bus ride from the NE side of Grand Rapids to Central Station.

Things we learned about The Rapid Bus: 

1. Did you know that if you prove a disability of some kind, you can get a bus ride for only $0.85?

2. Did you know that if you apply for this reduced fare, you get a card that allows you to get that fare for 5 years?  

3. Some busses start as early as 4:30 or 5 am and go until 12:30 am?!

4. That each bus costs around $380,000 and that it takes 10 years to buy a bus for the fleet.

5. The Rapid Travel Trainers will come to your house and ride with you to any location to help you get used to riding the bus.  All someone has to do is call their office and make arrangements with them.

KTC is so grateful for the hard work and dedication of Cari Dennany and Sarah Green for showing us how to ride and also helping us explore Rapid Central Station, the Amtrak Train Station, and The Rapid Central Office.  It was so much fun and we look forward to completing bus training with you all next year!