Liberty students earn paychecks through school programs

By SAMANTHA PHILLIPS

sphillips@vindy.com

LIBERTY

While some students may spend the summer lounging by the pool, other students in the Liberty School District are earning a paycheck through the career-based intervention summer program.

CBI is a career-technical education program facilitated in part by Trumbull County Job and Family Services that allows students to work.

Throughout the school year, the CBI program offers educational and work experience that allows students starting in seventh-grade to get a paycheck. This is the first year of the program.

“They get work experience, education, and become motivated to be career-ready after high school,” said schools Superintendent Joe Nohra.

Over the summer, students work at the schools’ facilities, at the township administration building, where they help with landscaping; the Jewish Community Center, the Youngstown Country Club and Plaza Optical, doing jobs that include landscaping and office work. Twelve middle-school students and four high-school students are involved.

Those working at the school’s campus help the custodian department clean facilities and do outside maintenance to get the school ready for the upcoming school year.

Students can work between 24 to 30 hours per week. They meet with their coordinator at 8 a.m. and finish work about 2:30 p.m. with a half-hour lunch break.

David Walker is the in-school suspension coordinator during the school year and a coordinator of the summer CBI program.

“We talk every day about the safety aspects of working the job, their approach coming to work with the right attitude and being responsible for your own actions,” Walker said.

They take the time to meet before the shifts and after their shifts to reflect and discuss the day.

Darrell Brown, a ninth-grader, is one of the students who helps clean the school as part of the program.

Most places don’t hire teenagers his age, so the program helps put money in his pocket.

“It’s a good opportunity, a way to make money,” he said.

Daveyon Williamson, a sophomore, said the program has taught him to be more respectful toward the facilities because he understands how much work goes into keeping them clean and in good condition.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for young people, especially to be involved at their campus,” Walker said. “A lot of them have plans to help their family out, being independent and paying for their own stuff, or they have fun money.”

The program also teaches them teamwork, responsibility, the importance of being on time and how to get along with others in a workplace, he said.