`PASSPORT' STUDENTS WILL GET RECOGNITION

Students at the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School can't be guaranteed a job when they graduate, but their employers can be assured they are hiring a dependable worker.

More than 30 students from seven area schools applied for the "Passport to the Future" program, which began this year. They will be honored at a reception April 30 at 7 p.m. at the Vocational Technical School.

The program combines academic skills with practical experience, said Daphna Fiehler, committee chairman.

Unlike the University of Missouri at Rolla program that guarantees students a free year of schooling if they don't get a job after four years of college, the "Passport to the Future" program isn't a job guarantee.

"It shows an employer that we can recommend this student for a job," she said. "It says we'd hire them if we were the employer."

Only high school seniors or adult students are eligible for the statewide program. Each passport includes a letter of recommendation, a certificate of course completion, a resume and samples of the student's work -- all of them bound in a leather folder.

The passport program began as a way to assist businesses and industries who wanted to hire the school's graduates.

In the future, employers can specifically ask for a passport from Vocational Technical graduates, Fiehler said.

The passport shows that students will be good employees or students if they continue their education, she added. "We feel like they are the cream of the crop."

To apply for the program, each student must maintain a C or better grade point average and a 90 percent classroom attendance; have no discipline referrals; be a member of a school business or vocational club and have committee approval.

Five people, mostly teachers and administrators at the school, approve the students' applications before they receive a passport. This is the first year the Cape Girardeau Vocational Technical School has participated in the "Passport to the Future" program.