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Students gain work experience at park
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James Spikes sits down to weed at Austintown Community Park. Fitch High School students helping on the site are in a functional life-skills and academic curriculum.
By Elise Franco
Austintown
The benefits gained through the work of eight Austintown Fitch students at the township park are twofold.
The group of sophomores, juniors and seniors spend several hours each Tuesday working at Austintown Township Park, off Kirk Road, said Carolyn Lorenzi, who teaches the special education class through the Mahoning County Educational Services Center.
Lorenzi said the students, for the past three weeks, spent their time there weeding and raking around an Eagle Scout project site that was installed in 2009.
“They are participating in a functional life-skills and academic curriculum,” she said. “This is like a work-site, and it’s job training to prepare for their eventual employment after high school.”
Lorenzi said the class gains experience working in different types of jobs, in this instance at the park, and can then decide what they like best.
“They love it,” she said. “They enjoy being outside, and this is work not many of them have experience with.”
Todd Shaffer, park maintenance foreman, said he was happy to offer the park as a site for the students’ program.
“Having an autistic daughter myself, I don’t think these kids should be treated any differently than anyone else,” he said. “They should have the same opportunities as anyone else.”
Shaffer said having them at the park each week for about two months is also a way to get smaller, less critical tasks completed. Because the park is short-staffed, it’s difficult for its two employees to weed and pick up sticks and debris as often as necessary.
“They come and pick up the sticks and litter and do some weeding, and it saves us time to do other tasks,” he said.
Aleesa Green, a junior, said she’s used to the weeding because she always helps her grandmother at home. Green said the raking she’s done feels like “just a little bit of work.”
Brandon Murckson, a sophomore, had no problem trampling through high weeds to get the job done.
“I like picking up the grass and weeds, making it look nice,” he said. “It’s fun helping my friends” do the work.
Murckson said when the class first started at the park, he didn’t really enjoy the work.
“I like it now,” he said.