Perceptions
One of our regular contributors has asked for a forum to discuss the volunteers’ perceptions and feedback to the STARS program and Job Corps in general.
This page is intended to start (and maintain) a discussion among the volunteers about your perception of STARS and Job Corps.
Nothwithstanding all of my prior posts, I must make it very clear that those students who get into the STARS program are not the disintereted or disruptive students. They are only the most dedicated.
Ms Coliton does a tremendous and effective screening procedure to ensure that tutors and mentors only get dedicted students. She now has a waiting list of over 40 students. She is selective.
STARS does not tolerate any disrespectful or disruptive behavior.
If my prior posts gave anyone the perception that tutoring or mentoring in STARS involves dealing with undedicated or disruptive students, let me clear the air. I have never experienced that in any manner. And if it were to happen, they would be shown the door in seconds, and one of the 40+ waiting for our services would be quickly substituted.
Ms Coliton runs a caring, yet commitment-demanding program.
She values her students, tutors, and mentors.
I’m a speaker and I’ve had the opportunity to train/work with the STARS students and mentors on three occasions over the past year. I have to say that I am always proud to mention that I have worked with this group. The students I had the privelage of meeting displayed a drive to achieve that was inspiring. The dedication, heart, and passion that the mentors have for the students is equally inspiring. I want to thank Mrs. Gloria Coliton and Mr. Modesto Gloria for giving me such an awesome opportunity!
There are a minority of Job Corps students who are not committed in any way to the educational offerings that are provided.
Unfortunately, they infect the daily educational classroom programs with disruption, which hurts all of the other students.
They are not those who seek, and that we want, in the STARS program. But until a student makes a commitment to progress educationally by passing their TABE requirement and then hopefully their GED certification, they need to get more mature guidance from we old folks.
That is ultimately what STARS is all about. Giving them sound adult mentoring and tutoring that will hopefully show them a new mentality for success.
Many Job Corps students may initially look upon we old people as just those who want to tell them what to do, and when to do it.
But once they come into STARS, their realization is a 180 degree turn.
There is no tutor or mentor in STARS that tells them what to do.
We offer them advice on what they should do, but the commitment is up to them.
Most respond. Some don’t.
I look for the pearls, and I find them.
Your perceptions? I would be interested…..
Please post!
An excellent thread! In fact, it is a thread that addresses the real heart of this program! As with many things in life, perceptions are often more powerful than reality!
I have been with Job Corps/Stars for three years now, and have a good understanding of what it really is, what it has to offer, and also what it needs to do to improve, as is the case with all programs.
But, as has been stated, Federal programs often have both pre-conceived biases and skepticism from those outside the program.
I was also a federal manager for over 30 years, and know the stigma of perception oh-so-well!
Five years ago, I did not know Job Corps from the old WWII “free government cheese” programs that first pop to most minds. All the same to me.
When I now tell my own family and friends about my involvement in Job Corps, the typical knee-jerk reaction I first receive varies between “What is Job Corps, is that part of the Peace Corps?” to the more jaded reaction, “Isn’t that just a program for ex-convicts?”
Perception.
When I explain that it is just the opposite, being a program to help those who might otherwise become a prison inmate in a few years but for the education and training at Job Corps, they begin to understand.
Once I have them on my fishing line, I have the hook to reel them in. And here is my hook.
I also did volunteer GED tutoring up at the MD State Prison in Jessup for four months earlier this year. I was tutoring inmates who were on the average, about 3-5 years older than our Job Corps students, but those additional 3-5 years on the street without the development of career education and skills put them behind bars. Without exception, none of those inmates knew anything about the availability of Job Corps during that critical 3-5 years they remained on the streets, using not their trade or academic skills to survive, but rather their illegal activities. They had no perception. They are now in prison.
I wont sugar-coat reality, for I see it every day amongst Job Corps students. Negative perceptions of the program are not only from those outside looking in, but also from the students inside looking out. I hear daily student comments that Job Corps is a prison, and they have a lot of silly rules. Maybe if a cadre of Job Corps students was bussed up to the Jessup prison for a day of “hard love” reality, the perception might shift.
I guess I have yakked too much, so I will end this post with the conclusion that we have to change the perception of Job Corps both from without and within.