Cape worker helps students prepare for life after school

Darin Stageberg's office is in a teacher's lounge, his desk near a microwave. He doesn't care, he says, because most of his day is spent moving about.

He was hired this school year by the Cape Girardeau School District as a "transition coordinator," charged with the task of helping students prepare for life after high school.

Splitting his time between the high school and the Alternative Education Center, he estimates he's worked with about 50 students.

At the high school, Stageberg coordinates with Debbie Ebaugh in the special services department to arrange work experiences for students with disabilities, as well as guide students to community resources.

At the Alternative Education Center, he helps students complete federal forms for college tuition aid, build resumes, identify possible career interests or arrange job shadowing.

"I'm preparing them for life after high school. I simply don't want them to fall through the cracks," he said.

On Friday, he took an Alternative Education Center student to the Career and Technology Center to learn more about a broadcasting program offered there. Next week, the student will job shadow an employee at Withers Broadcasting Co.

Stageberg hopes the experience will not only give the student an idea of what it is like to work in radio broadcasting, but will also give the student a reason to stay in school.

In the afternoon, he visited Veronica Schabbing, a high school junior working at the preschool Just Kids. Students do not get paid for their work experience but do receive academic credit.

Schabbing, who has a learning disability, read the book "Corduroy" to a class of 15 preschoolers. The students were so familiar with the book they filled in words if she paused.

"I love to work with kids. They make you stay awake," she said.

Kara Amos, the director of Just Kids, said Schabbing has done such a good job this year she asked Schabbing to work after the school day.

"This is an outcome. She's already got a job here," said Stageberg, who said his biggest goal is preparing students to be productive members of society.

The high school special education department has been participating in a work experience program for years, but this is the first year the Alternative Education Center has had an employee solely to help its students make the transition to the real world.

"This is brand new and much needed," said Carla Fee, director of the center.

With Stageberg's previous experience with Cape Girardeau's Vocational Rehabilitation, a service that helps people with disabilities overcome barriers to employment, he is well-versed in community resources available and can guide students to the appropriate organizations.

On Tuesday he took a pregnant student to the Missouri Mentoring Partnership so she could learn about a young parenting program available.

He has also arranged for students to tour colleges, meet with professors or learn job search skills.

Jackson has a similar work experience program for students with disabilities that 14 students are participating in this year. About six of those students work at Southeast Missouri Hospital, according to Dr. Beth Emmendorfer, director of special services.

Students are taught communication skills, punctuality, how to manage a checkbook, how to read a lease and how to assemble a career portfolio before entering the businesses.

For more traditional students, Emmendorfer said, high school counselors are available to help research colleges, complete paperwork or locate jobs.

lbavolek@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123