As she read from a fortune cookie Friday, Theresa Edwards choked back her tears.
"Appreciate the caring people who surround you," Edwards said as her vocational adjustment coordinator class at Longview High School watched her intently during their annual banquet.
Adam J. Holland/News-Journal Photo |
Kris Nugent gives his Lobo Award a closer look Friday. Nugent was honored for his outstanding performance in Longview High School's vocational adjustment coordinator course during 2007-08.
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Students planned the festivities to celebrate their accomplishments for the year and to thank their employers. They chose the fortune cookie as their theme.
The VAC program prepares students with disabilities for the workforce and helps them find jobs. Most enter the program at age 16 and continue until they graduate high school.
"One of my students got that fortune cookie from a Chinese restaurant a couple weeks ago," Edwards said. "It's appropriate because the employers care for them. The human resources agencies care for them and I care for them."
About the program
Vocational adjustment is a cooperative effort of the Texas Dept. of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, the school and local businesses, Edwards said.
Students take part in a variety of programs that lead to employment, based on their interests and abilities, said Edwards, and many of them work regular jobs while they are taking the course.
"We teach them about good attendance, following procedures team work and positive attitudes," Edwards said. "The students also learn train on job skills by working with Longview Community Ministries' Food Box — which led to one of them getting a job at Kroger."
Students occasionally train with classroom projects, like the sharpening of hundreds of pencils for school-wide state mandated tests a few weeks ago.
"It took them two weeks to do that in the past and we got them all sharpened and boxed up in one class period," Edwards said. "I am moved by the efforts of my students," Edwards said. "Too many times we take for granted what we so easily can do."
After graduating high school, the state takes the primary role of helping students with additional training and employment, said Tom Prien, a DARS transition vocation rehabilitation counselor.
Students honored
Each of the 18 VAC students received some type of award for their efforts, including four who got $400 scholarships for college or other training and two who received the Lobo Award — for outstanding accomplishments in the course.
"The (Lobo) award means a lot to me," said Kris Nugent, who will graduate high school in May. Nugent also won a scholarship and said he might use it to get training on automotive detailing.
"I'm not really sure yet, but I like the detailing business," he said. Nugent has worked at the Estes Parkway McDonald's Restaurant for a year and has become one of its most valued employees, Edwards said.
Scholarships were also awarded to Brandon Ford, Brandon Fagans and Chris Jennings. Because some of the students honored are wards of the state, Edwards said their names could not be released.
"I believe employment should be available to anyone who wants to be employed and these students raised the bar for the future classmates to achieve," Edwards said.
