Geoff Scofield, 15, of Joliet can explain the concept of work in just one word.
“Hard,” said the soon-to-be sophomore from Joliet West High School.
Scofield recently delivered newspapers for a vacationing friend.
“I had to get up before 6 a.m. on a Saturday and (deliver) 53 papers,” he explained. “It’s a lot tougher than I thought. The money was nice, but I really just wanted to stay in bed.”
With that experience under his belt, Scofield and about a dozen other high school students recently passed up a few extra hours of summer vacation to get a dose of the real working world. The high schoolers participated in a new two-week program, called the Workforce Preparation Academy, sponsored by Joliet Junior College.
“Most of us are going to change careers at least three times during our professional careers,” said Sandy Cyrkiel, one of the academy founders. “This program is a great opportunity to introduce students in a hands-on way to the countless career choices out there.”
Along with exploring possible occupations, participants roughed out resumes, conducted teleconferences, learned conflict-resolution techniques through role-playing and even designed their own home pages on the World Wide Web.
“For all but two of the students it was their first time working with the Internet,” Cyrkiel said. “We wanted to give them a taste of what technology will be able to do for them now and in their future workplaces.”
Although Tony Fenili already had dabbled on the Internet and written his resume, the 15-year-old from Joliet learned an important lesson at the academy.
“The real world can be difficult,” said Fenili, who will be a junior this year at Joliet West. “But the key seems to be figuring out what you love to do and doing it. Anybody can make money, but even great-paying jobs can get pretty boring if you don’t love what you do.”
The response was so positive that Cyrkiel is contemplating offering the course during Christmas and spring breaks.
“We’ve had countless parents express interest in signing up not only their kids but themselves,” Cyrkiel said.
For Scofield, the program was more than just educational. It was eye-opening.
“It was a cool two weeks and all,” Scofield admitted. “But now that I’ve seen what the 9-to-5 world is all about, I’m definitely going to enjoy all the summer vacations I have left.”
