Transition-to-work students get valuable job experience

WORKING — Zayne Carlson, a senior in the Transition to Work Program at Jefferson County Joint Vocational School, performs dish duty one day per week for work-based learning at Antonian Dining Hall at Franciscan University of Steubenville. — Contributed

BLOOMINGDALE — Transition to work students at the Jefferson County Joint Vocational School are getting some experience on the job through Parkhurst Dining at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

For the past month, seniors Zayne Carlson and Hailey Bradley have been spending four hours each Thursday in the Antonian Dining Hall clearing and cleaning dishes as part of their work-based learning, plus they are gaining credit towards their graduation seal. TTW Instructor Jennifer Davis said the duo began in early October and have seen what it is like to work in the real world.

“They work in the dish room and run the industrial dish machine and collect dishes from the students at Parkhurst,” she added. “They will be there all year and we may have them go two days a week.”

“I like learning new things,” said Carlson, adding that he gets to network with people.

Bradley said she has learned a lot about safety on the job.

“I wear gloves,” she added. “I have to change my gloves when I handle the dishes that are dry.”

TTW classroom aide Dawn Pugh noted this was the second year that the program has worked with Parkhurst while two recent graduates have gained full-time employment.

“Raymond Cooper is now employed there and I’ve had multiple employees come to me and say they’ve loved working with him,” Pugh said, adding that Matthew Tverbut is another recent hire and is participating in a job-coaching program. “Franciscan University is so good with our students. The atmosphere is great from the students to the staff and they are always so joyous.”

She said the opportunity to collaborate arose after TTW students worked at Vaccaro Field, then Parkhurst officials opened the door to help the students earn more experience. Cooper has been very helpful acclimating Carlson and Bradley with the machines.

“Last year, we took five or six students,” Pugh added, saying the TTW program currently has fewer participants with only nine people.

So far, they have been building their skills on-site at the JVS with their daily Soaring Eagle Cafe and spend the lunch periods peddling popcorn, slushies and freshly baked cookies as a class moneymaker. Students previously worked at other locations including Kroger and Vaccaro Field, but COVID temporarily limited their services. Now a smaller class size has impacted the number of off-site jobs, yet officials hope to rebuild those opportunities.

Davis said she hopes to expand their job horizons in the future.

“I’m looking at options. We also have students going to the power mechanics and animal science programs, so they are out in the school, as well. They do the Soaring Eagle Cafe every day and also fill the pop machines,” Davis said, commenting that they also were responsible for the share table in the cafeteria, where students may place unopened milks and packaged foods for others to consume.