Working Teens Earn and Learn

WHITESBORO — For most students summer is considered a time out from lessons. A time to sit back, play video games, text, hang out with friends and put hard work on the backburner until September rolls around. But for fifteen students from Whitesboro, this summer has been a learning experience. And the lessons learned will serve them well.
As part of a cooperative program between Middle Township and the Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro (CCW), fifteen students were given their first job as well as a lesson in the real world of working.
The group, working under the name “Mayor DeLanzo’s Beautification Program.” The program was the brainchild of Middle’s mayor, Susan DeLanzo. “I wanted the kids to have the learning experience of a job,” said the mayor.
“They clock in at the Martin Luther King Center,” said Robert Matthews, Jr, vice president for CCW and Director of the King Center. “We make sure everyone is there, they grab their supplies, go into the Rec Room for breakfast, and then they load up in the van.” From there they are taken to a predetermined street where they work until quitting time.
Their work is to make Whitesboro a more beautiful place to live. To that end, the team has been charged with cleaning up the roadside.
With grabbers, gloves, and trash bags in hand they scour the streets looking for litter and other detritus left behind. Accompanying them are two members of the township’s public works department who man a dump truck and a front-end loader.
“It’s my first job,” said fourteen-year-old Azanna Shelton. “It’s hard at times, but sometimes it’s easy.”
Easy may be a relative term. The crew has found some “interesting” litter in their travels. They all agree that the worst things to have to pick up are heavy dressers and mattresses, especially a mattress with a snake underneath. They’ve also come across skunks and beehives. “And animal bones,” said Ty Brooks, 16. “I found a dog’s jaw.”
Working in the heat of the past few weeks has had its moments. “We drink lots of water and Gatorade,” said Shelton. The crew has even had to begin its day earlier than the normal schedule in order to beat the heat.
“I get up early every day,” said Brandon Sudan. “I get up at 6:30.” Not so, though for Victor Adaramola. “I get up at 6 a.m. now. But when this is over, I’m going to sleep all day.”
The students are sent out each day under the watchful eye of Rosie Jefferson. Jefferson, a retired road crew supervisor from Middle Township’s Department of Public Works, walks with them every day.
“I teach them what it’s like to have a job,” said Jefferson. “I keep them in check.” Teaching a group of teenagers the concept of a real-world workplace has its challenges. “They are not allowed to text or talk on their phones, except on breaks,” said Jefferson.
Payday is Tuesday and, according to Jefferson, “ Miss Rosie’s rule is if you don’t come to work the day after a payday, then don’t bother coming back.”
Learning the social skills of a work environment is another lesson being taught by the program. Jefferson has stressed to her charges the concept of working with all people – even if you don’t get along with them. “I do my list of groups,” she said, “And sometimes in that group there will be someone they don’t get along with. If they come to me and tell me they don’t want to work with that person, I tell them this is what you’re going to have to do sometimes in a real job.”
In addition to learning the skills of how to work once they have a job, the crew has also learned how to apply for a job. They were all required to fill out an application and go through an interview. Once hired, they are paid $7.25 per hour and work a twenty-hour week. Their salary is paid entirely by CCW.
“It costs around $10,000,” said CCW president Bernard “Bernie” Blanks. “The township supplies their equipment and safety gear.” According to Blanks, the money has been well spent. “It’s an opportunity for the kids to make money, to teach them job skills, and to give them a sense of care about their community.”
As a reward for their hard work, program participants were treated to lunch at Atkinson’s restaurant on July 27. As they ate their lunch, the students talked about what they were going to do with some of their hard earned cash. Buying clothes and shoes was high on many of their lists, along with saving for a car. A few students, though, were going to take a nontraditional path with their earnings.
“I’m saving for a paint job for the car I get when I get a license,” said fifteen-year old Malcolm Darby. “I’m going to buy a tattoo,” said another student. And what kind of tattoo would that be? “A big one!”