One City Work Life has its 10th graduating class

Five Work Life program graduates walked and danced down the aisle at the start of the program’s 10th graduation ceremony at One City on Thursday. The class includes Rhiannon Christie, Patty Kreiter, Nicole Kirk, Miriah Hodges and Diana Whitaker.

The class recently finished a seven-week program in four weeks time in order to learn job and interpersonal skills after being out of the workforce for various reasons, such as addiction and incarceration. One City also partnered with the Family Counseling Center, United Way and First State Community Bank to conduct this program.

Work Life coordinator Christina Cheek said the program is faith based and not only gives students the skills to land a job, but to keep a job and thrive in it. She said the program is mostly possible by volunteers and in order to accommodate their schedules, the program was condensed in a shorter time period.

Cheek said while the students did well on the practical assignments, they also did a great job on the interpersonal work.

“When everybody gets to know each other, people start to get very vulnerable. Like what’s really been holding them back, or what are they really needing to work on? What keeps them up at night, what has been an obstacle in the past, that kind of stuff. And so I know people don’t think of that as hard work, but that introspective stuff, that work that people do to grow personally, is a lot of hard work,” Cheek said.

Diana Whitaker reads a poem she wrote called "One More Chance" during the 10th Work Life program graduation ceremony Thursday at One City in Cape Girardeau.Sarah Yenesel

The ceremony began with a welcome message and expression of pride from those running the program. Graduates were then announced and given their certificates. The ceremony ended with a group prayer inviting audience members to lay a hand on the graduates to pray for them.

Whitaker, known as “D” in class, is a graduate who is passionate about police work and wants to become an officer in part to educate children on drug abuse and mental health.

She said she came to the Work Life program to learn job skills while trying to stay sober and to learn how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. One of the most important things Whitaker learned is how to balance God, others, herself and work, she said.

“It was the second biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Whitaker said about the Work Life graduation ceremony. “I graduated high school and then this graduation, it made me feel accomplished. Made me feel like somebody.”