ON-THE-JOB TRAINING

Helping students make the transition from school to work has become a focus for innovative education programs across the nation.

A Cape Girardeau project has been addressing this very issue since 1938.

It has operated under a variety of different names through the years, explained Don Lang, marketing instructor at the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School. But the program has remained essentially the same.

Students learn about a job in the classroom and then practice the skills and theories they have learned on the job. Students earn both class credit and pay while working.

Lang offers internships in marketing for students. Most are involved in retail businesses.

Barbara Lohr, modern office technology instructor, operates the Cooperative Office Education program, placing students in community office settings.

For years, the program was called COE, cooperative occupational education.

The popularity of the program has fluctuated over the years. As many as 60 or 70 students have been involved in the program during past years. This year between 15 and 20 students are participating.

But the instructors believe with new national interest in school-to-work transition programs, the programs may expand.

Lohr said that several years ago the state education commissioner wanted vocational schools to develop something new that would allow students some work experience.

"I went to my advisory committee with this `new' idea. Everyone of them was a former COE student," she said.

"Some people I guess have not had this type of opportunity, but we have got a well established program here," Lohr said.

Lang said the first such program was developed in 1933 in Florida. The idea grew and Missouri's first program started in 1936. Cape Girardeau followed in 1938. "There were just a year or two during World War II when it was dropped," Lang said.

"All the new information says employers and even our state Department of Education really are looking for transitioning people to work," Lohr said. "This program provides that transition."

Lang agreed. "I think we will see more and more apprenticeships as we move toward this school-to-work transition."

In fact, other states have developed teams to create this transition and develop student internships.

"This spring we are looking at internships for students in the trade areas," he said.

Lohr said, "Students learn the theory and skills in classroom and then get practical experience on the job."

Students may schedule as much as half a day away from the school campus in a work setting.

Lang said some students come to the course already employed. Others are looking for jobs.

"We do approve all jobs," he said.

In fact, with enrollment down, Lang said job slots which have been developed over the years are open.

Lang said a hot topic in education circles is helping students develop marketable skills.

Through the internships, students work at competitive jobs. At the same time, the work experience is controlled to some degree by the school.

"We watch the number of hours they work, the environment they work in and we also watch out for their school grades," Lang said.

"We do have the employers evaluating them on the job," he said. "And we do tie some of the assignments in class to things specifically on the job. We really try to coordinate the two."

"The reception in the community been good," Lang said. And the list of graduates from the program is long.

John Mehner, who now heads the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, participated in the program during his senior year in high school.

"I went to school in the morning and work in the afternoon," he said.

"The program was good for me, personally. I think the biggest thing it did for me was to prepare me for what I would have to do in college," Mehner said. "I worked my way through college. So I learned how to go to school and work at the same time. There is a responsibility that teaches.

"It was real good preparation for me for what I had to do later on."

Angela Beck, assistant vice president of human resources at Boatmen's Bank, worked during her senior year in high school.

"It gave me some work experience I probably wouldn't have had otherwise. And it was a little introduction to the real world and what working in an office would be like."

She said using the skills she had learned in class in an office situation was valuable. "In the classroom, well, it's just not the same," Beck said. "When you have the opportunity to use those skills in the business environment, then you know how it really relates."