Students gain real-life experiences
By Dolly A. ButzJournal staff writer | Posted: Saturday, December 08, 2007
Don't judge.
It's the most important lesson Isabelle Musafiri, a junior at West High School, said she has learned so far during her internship at Goodwill Industries.
For a few hours, five days a week, Musafiri job shadows Kari Hildring, a program manager at Goodwill. She has learned how to build a paper trail, the crux of social work, through charting and graphing. She also observes interactions between Hildring and her consumers, who suffer from mental and physical disabilities.
"I didn't think they could do the kind of things that they do like walk around, talk all the time and have a conversation with you," Musafiri said. "I just kind of have a different view of it right now."
Musafiri, who hopes to become a psychologist, is one of the more than 100 students in the Sioux City Community School District with internships at local businesses through the School-to-Work program.
Students gain 90 hours of experience in their field of interest and earn one credit for their efforts. Although the School-to-Work program has been around in some form for 10 years, Mike McTaggart, the district's School-to-Work coordinator, said interest is growing. Participation has increased over the past year from 97 students to 152.
"It really has worked well for our students," McTaggart said. "We've had a lot of internships all over the city with kids in engineering, dentistry, medicine and working in our schools."
Charting a career path
Musafiri said her past has influenced the type of career she hopes to pursue. She grew up in Democratic Republic of the Congo and then moved to the west African nation of Ghana before coming to Sioux City six years ago with her family.
While living in Ghana, Musafiri said, her family was treated like outsiders.
"I didn't really experience poverty, but it was still hard because we were treated differently because we were foreigners," she said. "It made me look into a field where I'm helping somebody out. Kind of giving back."
Musafiri said she would someday like to help teens her age. To realize that dream, she is taking Advanced Placement psychology at West High and studying the DSM-IV -- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -- the bible of psychology and social work, with Hildring.
"This is kind of a point where she decides this is what it's really like to work with people that have disabilities," said Paul Kellen, vice president of development for Goodwill's Sioux City office. "If she's not comfortable working with them in a Goodwill setting, that's a great barometer to let her know that maybe this isn't what she's cut out to do, but from what she's shown us so far, this is something that's of interest to her, and that makes us feel really good."
Achieving success
Whether a student goes on to pursue a career in the field in which they intern, McTaggart said, isn't the only measure of the program's success.
"Sometimes those experiences are very rewarding and the student says, that's the career I'm going to and now I'm even more focused," he said. "Sometimes the student says, I really don't want to do this. We consider both of those successful."
Alison Keairns, a senior at North High School, still wants to become a teacher, but after interning in a third-grade classroom at Clark Elementary School, she doesn't think the grade is quite the right fit.
"Probably fourth or fifth grade, a little older," she said.
Keairns, who has wanted to become a teacher since she was a child, has been correcting papers, reading, playing games and working on math with students.
"Some of the different things that they do, I didn't do," she said. "There's a lot of hands-on stuff. More than I expected."
Staci Keegan, a junior at East High School, said her internship at Prairie Pediatrics hasn't deterred her from someday becoming a doctor.
"I've wanted to be a doctor since I was little," Keegan said. "The brain kind of amazes me. It's amazing how we can start off with something so little and grow so big."
Even though Keegan has yet to earn her high school diploma, she is able to don a white lab coat and perform some of the tasks a medical professional would. Keegan takes patients' blood pressure, records their height and weight and tests urine at Prairie Pediatrics. She has observed doctors interacting with patients and nurses giving shots and witnessed an echocardiogram and EKG first-hand. Sarah Smith, a registered nurse for Prairie Pediatrics, said she doesn't bog Keegan down with paperwork but tries to let her experience as many interesting cases as she can.
"I let her follow and ask questions," she said. "If something interesting comes up, I try to get her in there."
Keegan said she would recommend the School-to-Work program to other students.
"It you want to do something, you can get out there and get a feel for it," she said. "If you don't like it, you know ahead of time."
To get involved
Anyone who would like to participate in or sponsor an intern for the School-to-Work program may call Mike McTaggart at 203-1846.
It's the most important lesson Isabelle Musafiri, a junior at West High School, said she has learned so far during her internship at Goodwill Industries.
For a few hours, five days a week, Musafiri job shadows Kari Hildring, a program manager at Goodwill. She has learned how to build a paper trail, the crux of social work, through charting and graphing. She also observes interactions between Hildring and her consumers, who suffer from mental and physical disabilities.
"I didn't think they could do the kind of things that they do like walk around, talk all the time and have a conversation with you," Musafiri said. "I just kind of have a different view of it right now."
Musafiri, who hopes to become a psychologist, is one of the more than 100 students in the Sioux City Community School District with internships at local businesses through the School-to-Work program.
Students gain 90 hours of experience in their field of interest and earn one credit for their efforts. Although the School-to-Work program has been around in some form for 10 years, Mike McTaggart, the district's School-to-Work coordinator, said interest is growing. Participation has increased over the past year from 97 students to 152.
"It really has worked well for our students," McTaggart said. "We've had a lot of internships all over the city with kids in engineering, dentistry, medicine and working in our schools."
Charting a career path
Musafiri said her past has influenced the type of career she hopes to pursue. She grew up in Democratic Republic of the Congo and then moved to the west African nation of Ghana before coming to Sioux City six years ago with her family.
While living in Ghana, Musafiri said, her family was treated like outsiders.
"I didn't really experience poverty, but it was still hard because we were treated differently because we were foreigners," she said. "It made me look into a field where I'm helping somebody out. Kind of giving back."
Musafiri said she would someday like to help teens her age. To realize that dream, she is taking Advanced Placement psychology at West High and studying the DSM-IV -- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -- the bible of psychology and social work, with Hildring.
"This is kind of a point where she decides this is what it's really like to work with people that have disabilities," said Paul Kellen, vice president of development for Goodwill's Sioux City office. "If she's not comfortable working with them in a Goodwill setting, that's a great barometer to let her know that maybe this isn't what she's cut out to do, but from what she's shown us so far, this is something that's of interest to her, and that makes us feel really good."
Achieving success
Whether a student goes on to pursue a career in the field in which they intern, McTaggart said, isn't the only measure of the program's success.
"Sometimes those experiences are very rewarding and the student says, that's the career I'm going to and now I'm even more focused," he said. "Sometimes the student says, I really don't want to do this. We consider both of those successful."
Alison Keairns, a senior at North High School, still wants to become a teacher, but after interning in a third-grade classroom at Clark Elementary School, she doesn't think the grade is quite the right fit.
"Probably fourth or fifth grade, a little older," she said.
Keairns, who has wanted to become a teacher since she was a child, has been correcting papers, reading, playing games and working on math with students.
"Some of the different things that they do, I didn't do," she said. "There's a lot of hands-on stuff. More than I expected."
Staci Keegan, a junior at East High School, said her internship at Prairie Pediatrics hasn't deterred her from someday becoming a doctor.
"I've wanted to be a doctor since I was little," Keegan said. "The brain kind of amazes me. It's amazing how we can start off with something so little and grow so big."
Even though Keegan has yet to earn her high school diploma, she is able to don a white lab coat and perform some of the tasks a medical professional would. Keegan takes patients' blood pressure, records their height and weight and tests urine at Prairie Pediatrics. She has observed doctors interacting with patients and nurses giving shots and witnessed an echocardiogram and EKG first-hand. Sarah Smith, a registered nurse for Prairie Pediatrics, said she doesn't bog Keegan down with paperwork but tries to let her experience as many interesting cases as she can.
"I let her follow and ask questions," she said. "If something interesting comes up, I try to get her in there."
Keegan said she would recommend the School-to-Work program to other students.
"It you want to do something, you can get out there and get a feel for it," she said. "If you don't like it, you know ahead of time."
To get involved
Anyone who would like to participate in or sponsor an intern for the School-to-Work program may call Mike McTaggart at 203-1846.
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