‘The sky’s the limit’: Lycoming County students with disabilities learn about potential careers with local businesses
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Area students got a sampling of local career options Friday as BLaST IU 17 held its EmployAbility Day throughout Lycoming County.
BLaST IU 17, created in 1971, services school districts in Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan and Tioga counties, offering special services and early intervention for special education students.
"EmployAbility Day offers students with disabilities the opportunity to job shadow," said Jeffrey Pelly, organizer of the event, "to go out to an employer of their interest, for example, somebody who is interested in cosmetology can go to a beauty salon."
"Essentially, job shadowing allows the student to observe what's going on and ask questions to the employer. It's really a way for the students to assess these careers to see if they truly are interested in that field of work."
"Some businesses will even allow them to do hands-on things," Pelly said. "For example, if it's in a kitchen, maybe they can do some prep activity, or something like that."
"We typically open it up to juniors and seniors. When we're in middle school and early high school, the sky's the limit, but when we become juniors and seniors, while we still want to shoot for the stars, we also want to be realistic in our interests, to make sure that we have a nice plan going forward after we graduate."
"So the students that participate in employability day, really are those ones that have their future in mind, and they're really starting to fine tune what their interests are," Pelly said.
Pelly stressed that the purpose of the event is not necessarily for the students to decide that day what career path is right for them.
"It's great when you truly know what you want to do, but it's also good sometimes to try something out and realize, "oh my gosh, this was not what I thought it was, but there's something else where I'm going to fit later on. That's still a successful day."
"And it benefits the children as well as local employers," Pelly said, "because they can see that everybody has skills, and if an individual might need a little bit more special training, there are things like job coaches, who can come out and work with the students. So we are so appreciative of the ones that are partnering with us to bring this to fruition."
"They really want to make sure that they give as many opportunities as possible to all individuals."
"The bottom line is we want everybody to be hopefully employable by the time they get ready to graduate high school," Pelly said.
"Our motto is that everybody has a place to fit in, and if it's somebody who is going to Harvard, that's great; and if it's somebody who is nonverbal going on to work in a job where they're stocking shelves, and they have a job coach, there's still a spot for that."
"That's what we're trying to bring awareness around: Everybody fits, and everybody potentially can have a job to do," Pelly said.
Hughesville Junior/Senior High School was host to a number of presentations and opportunities for job shadowing.
"The boys are definitely really paying attention and asking good questions," said Jason Dohl, owner of Dohl General Construction. "Twenty years ago when I was a high school student here, I wouldn't have this, but as an employer, if I can guide even one of these young folks to make a good decision, that's great."
"If they want to stay local and go into the trades, there's really good opportunities in the local community," he added.
For Connor Kepner, owner of Kepner Excavating, like Dohl, this day is about helping the students to make informed decisions.
"My biggest piece of advice for kids today would be to take time and find something you love," he offered. "It's not all about the money. Life is very short, and if you're not doing something that you love, it's a waste."
Dalton Young, junior at Hughesville High School, took interest in both KVS Computers and TJ's Market during job shadowing opportunities.
"I've been pretty interested in computers and cooking as well for a while, so maybe something with KVS or in the meat department at TJ's," he said.
"We've actually been involved with the school before," said Shannon Bartlett, manager for TJ's Market, "with having kids come in and work for a couple hours at a time, stocking shelves and whatnot, just for the experience."
"The kids have always enjoyed it, and we've enjoyed it because they're good workers,” she said. "Anything for the kids to make their lives better or to get them the experience."
Additional businesses taking part in EmployAbility Day included UPMC and Ashkar, where students interested in early childhood care could take observations.
Participating businesses in the Williamsport area included Robert M. Sides and Helen's Nail Salon.
Christopher Kish, learning support teacher and transition coordinator for Hughesville High School, who organized EmployAbility Day for the district, said the day is all about making connections between the students and the local community.
"It's huge to build those relations," Kish said. "Number one, it gives the kids a firsthand look, by bringing in not just anybody from these businesses, but human resources and business owners themselves, to spend time with the kids."
"I get to spend time with the kids in the classroom, but being able to watch them really relish in areas in which they are interested is amazing," he said. "We have a large number of students that are interested in the labor force that attend Lycoming Career and Technology Center."
"For me to be able to sit here, build those relationships for those kids with these different businesses and employers and watch how excited they are about that, that to me is why we do this," Kish continued.
"Obviously to get an A or B on a test is great, but to watch them have a plan or start to develop a plan as they approach graduation and say, 'wow, this is maybe something that I'm interested in' and give them some foundational blocks of how to move forward, it's awesome."
Of the eight districts in Lycoming County offered BLaST IU 17’s services, three will participate, totaling around 45 students from East Lycoming, Montoursville and Loyalsock school districts.
"This year, we're not necessarily starting over again, but we're reestablishing our footprint," Pelly said. "This is the first time that we're able to do EmployAbility Day post-COVID. Last year, restrictions were fine, but we didn't have enough students to be able to participate so, this year, we're kind of getting back into the swing of things."