Some kids need extra help learning what’s expected of them in a work place.
Juneau Parks and Recreation and Southeast Alaska Independent Living have a summer program that gets them outside and teaches them interpersonal skills they’ll need.
C. Allen Truitt, who coordinates the Youth Employment in Parks program, drives a bus packed with six teenagers from Zach Gordon Youth Center.
The back is filled with shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows.
“We do things like work on our city trails and in our city parks,” he said. “From creating new trails to repairing old trails to landscaping work – so they really get that rounded, first job experience.”
Minutes later, at a North Douglas trailhead, Truitt is loading wheelbarrows full of gravel alongside the youth. At the end of the trail, Nicklaus Doogan is waiting with a rake to spread the gravel.
Doogan, who’s now 16, is no stranger to a part-time job – his family owns a deli downtown, where he regularly works behind the counter and moving freight.
“I like working indoors and all, but outside suits me better,” he said. “If I’m inside, like, I’m doing nothing at all. It feels like I’m just at my parents’ store doing nothing, just using the cash register or taking orders.”
His parents encouraged him to branch out last summer.
“My family was right,” he said, “I need to get outside, get a job, meet some new friends I don’t know, get along with them. And it went pretty well.”
Supervisor Mallory Story said that working with other people is one of the things the program is all about.
“We’ve really focused on communication with everyone you’re working with, with your supervisor, with other co-workers,” she said. “As well as how to deal with frustration because it’s a different environment than being in school or being with your family.”
Story also works with the students one day a week in the summer focusing on team building or soft job skills like interviewing or building a resume.
Truitt agrees it’s about a lot more than trails.
“I don’t care if they never operate a shovel for the rest of their lives,” he said. “I care that they know they can do something with themselves, that they know that they can do things, and that they have a future.”
As the day goes on, the work settles into a routine and the students keep an eye on their progress. If not today, they hope that by tomorrow the trail will be finished and they can look back on what they’ve accomplished.
Quinton Chandler in Juneau contributed to this report.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from WNET’s American Graduate project. Television coverage of American Graduate Day 2017 begins at noon Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017 on 360 North.
