Image provided by: Oregon Historical Society; Portland, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 1982)
V Page 6 August 25, 1982 August 25, 1982 Page 7 Students gain experience from summer jobs Summer workers get their feet into everything. Alexandria Smi’k (right) and Jewel Van Pelt (center) practice feet painting with daycare children. This is only one o f the many activities that summer workers help with during the day. by Marsha Shewczyk Marking the trail fo r forestry workers is part o f the job o f summer worker Pixie Sanders. This is Pixie’s first year in the Summer Work Program. She, along with otherfirst year workers have made trails, piled brush and worked on field crews. Clerical duties belong to anyone working at the administration building. Gorky Mitchell operates the switchboard when necessary. Even though there’s always much to be done young people find it difficult to get jobs. They are considered too young, to inexperienced and too irresponsible. The Summer Work Program refutes that idea. Young people are encouraged to work and at the same time help get their community in shape. The student at the same time earns m o n e y to m e e t s c h o o l expenses. Any student age 14 and up is eligible to participate in this 8- week work program. This summer, 151 students worked at jobs in a variety of fields. S tu d en ts w ere placed in forestry, at the Public Health Service, at the Community Center, at the water treatment plant and in the Natural Resources department. Some students worked with senior citizens, some did secretarial work while others cleared brush and built fences. Sum m er workers helped prepare areas for community events and then cleaned up afterwards. Students also acted as hosts and hostesses at the hydro dedication. Fences were built, litter cleared, trails forged and much was learned in the process. One girl who definitely did not want to go into the woods learned that it was enjoyable and worked there when she could. New careers were explored. Students were asked at the beginning of the program what their interests were. When possible the student would be placed according to his or her interests. But the student is not allowed to work at the same job two years in a row, enabling a wider range of experience. The wage scale for students in the Summer Work Program varies according to their participation. A first year summer worker begins with a $3.35 hourly wage. With each succeeding year the wage goes up slightly until in college a student may be making $6.00 an h o u r. E ach sum m er, however, must end with a positive termination. Students receive direction throughout the summer in their temporary career fields from crew leaders and coordinator of the Summer Work Program, Julie Mitchell. Julie provides counseling to each worker throughout their participation in the program. Each student in the program must be planning on attending school the following year. Julie helps students with forms and plans for the school year. She keeps records for the program among those being attendance records. T h o se S u m m e r W o rk Program students maintaining perfect attendance are: Ian Tohet, N atural Resources; L ym an Jim , C o m m u n ity Center; Travis Wells, Fire & Safety; E m erson C ulpus, Community Center; Maury Rhoan, Community Center: Rowena Begay, Legal Aid and Jimmy George, Fire & Safety. Spilyay Tymoo photos by Marsha Shewczyk and Pat Leno Putting the fence together at the Community Center is summer work crew supervisor Whitney Miller. Many hot hours were spent in fence construction but the cyclone structure is a good monument to the fine work done by summer workers. With the greatest o f ease Jimmy George shows he has learned the art o f “repelling” down the tower o f the firehall. Digging holes is a task that takes both time and energy. D avid Lucei (right) and Steven Andersen worked throughout the summer on the Community Center water system.
