Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Vocational Program Gives Students Hands-On Work ExperienceOn Saturday nights during the summer, nearly 100 bonfires illuminate Providence, sparkling along the river while downtown bustles with visitors from near and far.
As a non-profit arts organization, WaterFire relies on volunteers to support its staff as they prepare for each celebration. Among those dedicated volunteers are 10 students from The Providence Center School.
For the last year, high school students from The Providence Center School have been participating in WaterFire’s preparation as a part of the school’s vocational program. Today, they’re at WaterFire’s warehouse on Valley Street where preparations for the last full Waterfire lighting of the season on November 7th—a special lighting in honor of veterans—are underway.
“We’re making the torches today,” explains one student. “We wrap the pole with a towel, then another, then wrap a wire around the towels to hold it.”
TPC School’s senior vocational specialist Lisa Plummer organizes the vocational sites and matches up students with a placement that connects with their interests. Job sampling activities are beneficial in helping students realize their skills and strengths and gain hands-on experience in a real-life work setting. The program allows students to build a résumé and identify potential references for future employment. Students start at supervised sites like the soup kitchen at City Meals or Matthewson Street Church and work up to more independent work sites. Students sample three to four jobs during the year, which may include community businesses such as Adler’s Hardware, ProMail, Etc., Cookie Place, florists, or soup kitchens.
“WaterFire has been a perfect fit for us because it gives students the chance to be a part of a large operation,” said Plummer. “It’s hands-on work—they’re learning processes, teamwork and how to work under a supervisor.”
Back at the warehouse, Chantal Roche, WaterFire’s community relations and volunteer engagement manager, supervises the students as they assemble 200 torches that will be used to light the fires. The students have also repaired the luminarias, replaced lights in the star field and broken up fencing used for kindling in the bonfires.
“Working with The Providence Center School has been a great collaborative partnership,” Roche said.
“WaterFire is a large production with so many moving parts. The kids have been working with us for so long that I have been able to give them tasks that our production team would have to do.”
Vocational opportunities are a unique component of The Providence Center School and are essential to helping students hone the skills they will need to succeed on the job.
“Our goal is to prepare our students for success in their community schools and after graduation,” said Elizabeth Conley, director of secondary education at TPC School and Anchor Learning Academy. “Partnerships with organizations like WaterFire give students the opportunities to practice skills and set goals for their futures.”