AREA 'INN TEAM' STUDENTS HAVE COMPLETED JOB SKILLS PROGRAM

The "Inn Team" is ready to work, thanks to a job training partnership between Mid-America Hotels and the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center.

Eight area high school students were recognized during a breakfast ceremony recently for completing a school-to-work program created this year for students with special needs. The students are juniors and seniors from Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City schools who attend classes at the vocational school.

"In this one year, for me, there has been as much satisfaction as in all of my 27 years as a counselor," said Judy Bane, who served as a program liaison between students and managers at the Holiday Inn and Victorian Inn. "I am very proud of everyone who completed the program."

Bane's position and other aspects of the program were funded with a Missouri Transitional Alliance Program grant from the state. The grants are distributed to school-to-work programs that provides students high school credits while enabling them to gain real-world work experience.

Students participating in the program worked in five-week cycles in various departments of the hotels. They were placed in situations where they worked autonomously and in group situations to teach them how to work in a variety of environments.

Students were paired with teachers or counselors from their schools who worked with them to develop interpersonal and social skills. Students were not paid during the program, but they earned incentive rewards with each completed cycle. Two students also were recently offered jobs because of their work performances.

"When they graduate, they will have enough experience that they can be hired at any like work site," Bane said.

Hotel managers and school faculty said they have seen noticeable changes in students since the program began. Work experience has made them more confident and helped some develop better attitudes, and some students have become more out-going and personable.

"A hotel is almost like its own little city, so it gives the kids a chance to experience fine, culturalistic kinds of opportunities," said Joel Neikirk, vice president of operations for Mid-America Hotels. "These kids just exhibited 150 percent of the effort that you normally see, and it's enlightening to see kids who really want to work in today's environment."