Jaquasia completed an interview with a paraprofessional in order to learn more about what her job entails and what her day-to-day work looks like. Please see the transcript of her interview below.
What is your full name? Susan Ossewaarde What is your job title? Parapro What is your place of employment? Portage Community High School How long have you worked in Portage Public Schools? Seven years What schools did you attend and what degrees do you have? I went to Douglas MacArthur High school in Saginaw, Michigan and graduated from WMU with a bachelor's degree in finance. Why did you decide to work in this position for so long? I liked to stay with kids to help them to graduate from high school, to believe in their abilities, and to become productive citizens. What is the hardest part of your job? When people give up on themselves and I'm not able to help them accomplish what they have the potential to do and be. Do you have any advice in choosing a career path? Choose something you enjoy and are passionate about. It makes a difference if you want to go to work every day.
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"Before graduating from YADC, I completed my service-learning experience at Feed The World Cafe with Executive Chef Pat Mathis. It is a restaurant that makes wonderful food and gives back to the community by selling food. Because every plate that they sell means they give one or more meals back to the local community. They give to food services places such as Loaves and Fishes so that they can help people who need that food support. I learned how to make basically everything on the menu that is served to the customers. I also helped prepare for a catering and did a couple of orders when they needed help on the line. My favorite things I helped make were chicken kabobs and a brisket. Working with Chef Pat showed me that you can accomplish a lot even if you are going through court/probation problems. You can still make things happen and you can always give back to your community." -Tylan **visit Feed The World Cafe's website here or check out their Instragram photos by clicking here. YADC is proud that one of its participants, Terrion, completed a service-learning project at Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity. He is a hard-working participant and wrote a reflection of his time working at the construction sites that he is sharing below. *To learn how you can volunteer at Habitat for Humanity in the Kalamazoo area, click here! Terrion's Reflection "During my 6 weeks working at Habitat I experienced multiple things I never thought I would. In the first week of working with the employees at habitat I learned how to do siding of a home. During siding, you have to do a lot of cutting and measuring. When measuring you have to be very accurate or it can be difficult to put the siding exactly the way you want it to be. In the 2nd and 3rd week I did more of the same work on a home located on the Eastside of Kalamazoo. In the 4th week working with habitat we went to another home and I used some pudding like goo to cover up the holes that were in the furnace and where your heat flows through so that when you decide to turn your heat on in your home, that heat goes exactly where you expect it. During the last 2 weeks of working with the group at habitat, I helped with the framing of a home located on the Southside of Kalamazoo. Being a part of the Habitat team was a positive and productive group to work with. Everyone in the group is friendly and treats you with the respect you expect from others and they’re there to help you and make sure you are in a safe environment and have fun while working to complete the task for the day. I learned something different from everyone. Lee was my site supervisor, and he was a great communicator. He was in charge of making sure that everything got done and he was the person that anyone could go to if they needed something. He was a great example of leadership for me. The biggest surprise for me in the work I did wasn’t much of a surprise; it was more of a joy feeling knowing that I was helping a family in the community create the home they desired and that that wasn’t something I would see myself doing now or in the future. I would encourage any and everyone to get involved with the great things they do in the communities!" -Terrion Thanks to Lee and to Michealyn at Habitat for helping to make this experience possible! As part of his service-learning project, one of our YADC participants, Kyle, was able to experience "a day in the life" of a fashion student at WMU. Kyle observed two classes, learned about the Family & Consumer Sciences building, which houses the fashion programs, and interview a current student. Below is an excerpt from his interview:
Name: Kayla Question #1: What is your major? Response: “Fashion Merchandising.” Question #2: Do you have a minor? If so what is it? Response: “Yes, Gender Women’s Studies.” Question #3: What made you interested in the fashion/design program at WMU? Response: “I’ve always enjoyed fashion and WMU is one of very few schools who have a fashion/design program.” Question #4: What has been your experience at WMU overall? Response: “I like my overall experience at WMU.” Question #5: Do you wish your classes were a smaller amount of people and more intimate or larger and more distant? Response: “I prefer the smaller classes with around 25 people one of my classes has 250 students which gets quite overwhelming.” GREAT JOB KYLE! AND A BIG "THANK YOU" TO KAYLA AND TO WMU PROFESSORS KELLY AND ANNE MARIE FOR HOSTING OUR PARTICIPANT! Supporting local businesses is a good thing for many different reasons. Perhaps most notably, using economic power to grow the local food, arts, and culture scene in Kalamazoo supports jobs and shows that we are investing in our youth--the businesspeople of tomorrow.
Here is a list of 2016 events in Kalamazoo: http://www.downtownkalamazoo.org/DKI/files/7b/7bfd6c6a-26b6-47e8-8c8a-0a5ab0bc1c2d.pdf Visit http://downtownkalamazoo.org to learn more about what is happening in our community! |
AuthorsParticipants of YADC, community members with an interest in restorative and therapeutic justice or diversion programs, and YADC staff are encouraged to write posts to be submitted to the blog. Anyone is welcome to inquire as to the process of becoming published. CategoriesArchives
July 2017
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