Photo By Karen Iwamoto | SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — Teens and parents sign in to the Teen Job Fair, Wednesday, at...... read more read more
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — The average military child will move three to nine times during a single school year, or three times as often as the average non-military child during the same time period, according to the Department of Defense.
With frequent relocations come the stress of adapting to different achievement standards, protocols, courses and activities at various schools. Even military families who opt to homeschool their children face a myriad of state regulations.
U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii’s Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation and Army Community Service offer services to support military students on their path to adulthood.
Job fair
On Wednesday, ACS hosted a Teen Job Fair at the Island Palm Comunities’ Kalakaua Community Center on Schofield Barracks.
“A lot of teens want to find jobs on post,” said Caron Ferguson, Employment Readiness Program manager, ACS, who organized the fair. “A lot of teens are not sure what to do to prepare for college or want to find out more about how they can use their parents’ post-9/11 GI Bill to pay for their college tuition. We have people on hand who can answer all of these questions.”
Representatives from Hawaii Pacific University, the University of Hawaii’s community colleges, the Army School Liaison Office, Military One Source and FMWR’s Child Youth School Services were there to speak with teens and their parents.
“I’ve been thinking about getting a job on post and wanted to get an idea of what was out there,” said Desarea Clark, 16, who attends Leilehua High School. “I figured this would be a good place to start.”
The fair also featured presentations on paying for college and maximizing the transferred post-9/11 GI Bill, which allows service members to transfer their GI Bill benefits to immediate family members.
Apprentice program
Another resource is CYSS’s Youth HIRED! Apprentice program, which gives military teens between the ages of 15 and 18 real-world, on-the-job experience through unpaid internships at on-post facilities such as the Sgt. Yano Library, the Bennett Youth Center, the Schofield Barracks Arts & Crafts Center and the Schofield Barracks Auto Center, among other locations.
It also offers a lifeguard internship at Richardson Pool, which includes a one-week lifeguard certification class.
Getting HIRED!
HIRED! is separated into four, 12-week periods per year, and teens can enroll in two terms per year for up to three years. Those enrolled commit to 15 hours per week.
“We give them a leg up,” said Michael Lampard, the workforce prep specialist at Bennett Youth Center, who oversees HIRED!
“If they leave this post for another post, they’ll have references for when they’re looking for a job. They’ll have contacts who can help them. We also show them how to write a resume. These are skills that will help them if they move to another post on the mainland, or even if they end up looking for work off post,” he said.
According to Lampard, most of the material for HIRED! is from the Boys and Girls Club of America and includes the following:
•The Club’s Keystone program, open to teens between 14 and 18, focuses on academic success, career preparation and community service.
•In the Money Matters program, teens learn how to open and manage a checking account, create a budget, save for the future, invest their savings, start a small business and pay for college.
•The Diplomas to Degrees program guides teens as they work toward graduating from high school and preparing to take on college, while the Career Launch program is for teens focused on getting hired and finding the right career.
| Date Taken: | 01.19.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 01.19.2017 17:35 |
| Story ID: | 220733 |
| Location: | SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 51 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Teens find jobs, apprenticeships and a future, by Karen Iwamoto, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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