InSYTE Program Takes Education Beyond the Classroom

Left to right: Cyle Brown with Montecito teacher Tom Serio and InSYTE student Devon Kelly at the construction worksite at Montecito High School. Photo By Carol Kinney

By Jim Evans

Sometimes the real world can be a classroom, too, and for the past 22 years the In-School Youth Training and Employment program at Ramona High School has provided the opportunity for qualified students to intern with selected community businesses and learn job skills while gaining work experience.

Funded by the federal Workforce Investment Act, the local InSYTE program is hosted by Ramona High School under the guidance of InSYTE program specialist Mary Ann Middleton, assisted by Career Center counselor Birgit Leitlein and career specialist Janine Koffel. All are committed to helping students identify with what they want to accomplish and helping them realize their goals.

Elana Yanez, intern at Ramona Home Journal takes a moment from her busy work schedule for a picture. Photo By Jennifer Jenkin

Additional funding has been provided by the Ramona High School PTSA and the Ramona Rotary Club.

According to Koffel, students are eligible to participate if they meet one or more of the qualifications: basic-skills deficient (working below their grade level in math or reading) and low income; a pregnant or parenting teen; a foster child; court-involved (truant or other illegal activity); or have an active IEP or 504E plan for health disabilities or learning delays.

Left to right: Jenny Gonzalez, Montecito senior; Mary Ann Middleton, InSYTE Program Coordinator; Future Bound 10th grader, Elena Yanez; Janine Koffel, Career Specialist; Devon Kelly, Montecito 9th grader. Photo By Carol Kinney

Eighteen students are enrolled in this year’s program, and there have been as many as 32 in previous years. Participants represent different school campuses — seven this year are from Montecito High School, 11 from Ramona High School.

InSYTE students actively work with about 22 different community partners such as the Ramona Home Journal , Congregational Children’s Center, Dr. Susan Homesley, Headstart, Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Boys and Girls Club, Piva Equipment Rental, Born Again Restoration, Ramona Animal Hospital, ROP Landscape Design, and Blue Horse Music, among others.

Each community partner provides a job site where students receive job training, supervision and mentoring, and learn such things as workplace ethics, customer service and other job-related skills. In other words, the students are actually working and receiving financial compensation for their efforts in addition to their learning experience.

“Each job site provides students with the opportunity to learn and practice at least five job skills, which may include filing, answering phones, customer service, data entry, translating, tutoring, activity planning, safety and supervision, meal preparation, billing, and interfacing with the public,” Koffel said.

This year, students also had the chance to develop public-speaking skills, marketing strategies and provide a community service by working on the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, Koffel said.

“In-SYTE students were responsible for planning and executing the luminary service for the relay, and they were able to utilize their bilingual skills to help raise funds for cancer research while learning how to market, manage funds and successfully engage with the public,” she said.

Students are evaluated every two weeks during their internship to verify that the job placement is successful and satisfactory to both the student and the community partner. Employers have always had the option to discontinue their partnership “but none ever have,” Koffel said.

“The program provides students with an opportunity to receive academic assistance as well as gain tangible work experience, which will help them pursue private employment once they have completed our program.

“We also work hard to provide them with exposure to a variety of career options that they might pursue, including those which require a college degree or vocational certification,” she added. “Students may receive assistance with scholarships and financial aid applications from us even after they have completed the program.

“Many of our students do ultimately pursue continued education or certification once they’ve graduated from high school. In some cases, they are the first in their family to complete high school and the first to continue in post-secondary schooling.”

This year, the local InSYTE program also became a chartered Boy Scouts of America in-school student group called Learning for Life Navigators. This has allowed the program to use the BSA curriculum to connect classroom activities with the workplace setting. The program also provides affiliations with other community service organizations, such as Union Bank of California, Kiwanis, Young Eagles and Ramona Rotary.

And how have students who have participated in the program benefited from their experience?

“I think many would say it was the ‘hand up’ that got them focused on continuing in school to achieve their goals — be it high school or college,” Koffel said. “All would agree that having real work experience on their resumes made it easier to get another job afterwards. Each student develops and maintains his or her resume and practices job interviewing skills, which makes each of them more confident in an interview situation.”

Pre-applications for the InSYTE program for the 2005-06 academic year will be accepted in May and early June, but formal enrollment is based on a first-come, first-served basis beginning in September.

Parents should call (760) 787-4033 for more information. Program size will be limited to 18 students for the coming school year.

InSYTE, in sync, in style — sounds good!