My Job Corps Experience, Chapter 3

The next morning I knew it was time to “Rise and Grind.” Now I’m not going to lie to you I’m not an early morning person. 9:30 or 10:30 am I can do, but 6:00 in the morning, I don’t know. We’re cutting it kind of close here Captain. I hear the knocks on the doors from SGA and staff, and I knew it was time to make moves. I went in the bathroom wash my face, brushed my teeth, put on some clothes, made sure I had my dorm room keys, made up my bed and I was out.

The night staff was different than the evening staff. The young man that worked that particular shift was Anthony. He was an older gentleman, but he was real nice, and he had a great relationship with a lot of the guys in my dorm. Guys joked around a lot with Anthony and shared laughs with him, so it made it easier to talk to him about problems or ask for advice. He was an easy going brother, but also stern. If he felt like you needed a kick in the butt he’d give it you.

“How are you doing young man, are you new here?” Anthony asked as I passed by the staff office to go outside.

“Yes, I am.” I replied “I just got arrived here yesterday”

“Oh ok, I’m my name is Anthony, I’m the night staff here.” he said as he extended his arm for a handshake.

“I’m Sakoli, nice to meet you my brother.” I replied.

“Did they give you you’re your schedule yesterday for today? He asked kindly.

“Yes they did, I have all the information right here in my pocket.” I said as I pulled my schedule out to show him.

“ I believe the group and the Welcome Leader you came with yesterday, will meet in the cafeteria as a group, so you guys can all attend class together. That way you guys won’t get lost.” Anthony said with a playful laugh.

“Yeah that definitely works for me, I don’t want to wonder around the building for hours looking for one class.” I replied laughing as well.

“You know where the cafeteria is right?” Anthony asked.

“Yeah. I shouldn't get lost that fast” I replied with a slight giggle.

“Ok young man, have a good day.” Anthony said smiling I walked out of the door.

“You too Anthony, and thank you!" I replied as Anthony nodded his head in approval.

I walked out the door and followed the crowd to the cafeteria for breakfast. Once I walked into the cafeteria I noticed that it was filling up pretty quickly. I remember the smell of bacon and eggs, with a choice of French Toasts or Pancakes! As I was standing in line I looked around to see if I saw Lisa, The Welcome Leader from yesterday. I’d recognize her face, but I know she wouldn’t have on her white, black, and gray striped Spirit Shirt. When I got my breakfast I sat down at one of the end tables near the end of the entrance walkway. I was the first one to get there, so I started to eat.

I chose the French Toasts over the Pancakes, and man listen. This French Toast were delicious with a capital D! I couldn’t tell whether it was the syrup or the butter that made it taste that great, maybe it was both, but it was one of the best renditions of French Toast I’ve ever eaten! As I ate I looked up for a second just to see everybody who walked in, it was like the whole cafeteria filled up in a matter of minutes. I saw everybody in their respected trade uniforms, people I didn’t get a chance to see yesterday, I saw coming in to eat.

I thought to myself “Wow there are a lot of people in here." I even saw a couple of beautiful young ladies and rubbed my chin in approval, but all in all this was a pretty good size center to hold all of these people. Among these people was Lisa in her Nurses Aide uniform. I saw her and a couple of people that were in my tour group yesterday. They were in line talking and getting their food. Once they got their food they spotted me and came over to my direction. There were a couple of seats left so they sat down around me.

“Good Morning guys, how are you this morning?” I said after sipping my Orange Juice.

“Good Morning, Sakoli, right?” Lisa asked with a smile.

“Yes you’re right.” I said smiling right back.

“How is you’re breakfast?” Lisa asked.

“Aw man!” I said with excitement “This French Toast is something else. I don’t know if it’s the butter of syrup, but man these things are great!”

“That’s great!” she replied with enthusiasm.

“The cooks really do a great job here cooking, you should have been here for their Thanksgiving and Christmas cooking! They really did a fantastic job.” Lisa added.

“I bet they did!” I said. This food is great!” I replied

As we began to talk amongst our selves I asked Lisa how has her life changed since she’s attended Job Corps and what made her choose being a Nurses Aide as her trade. She said she had been there almost a year, about 9 months at that point. She said it changed her out look on life and it had helped her become a better person. She was 21 years old and she wanted to start a career and go back to school. She wanted to be a Nurses Aide because she liked to help people, and she was very good with medicine, vital signs, and just practicing health in general.

She wanted to become a licensed Nurse. She knew this particular hospital back where she lived that would pay for her training and residency. She spoke very passionately about health and she really believed that she could make a difference. It was very inspiring to hear this young lady talk. She seemed very driven and focused, as if she had found her life’s purpose and was acting on it.

The time went fairly fast as we were talking about job corps, our future, and experience in Lisa’s case. It was closing in on 8AM and Lisa had to take us upstairs so we could be on time for our first day in Welcome Week. We headed towards the back door where there was a stairwell, and walked up one flight. When we reached the second floor, it felt like we were in high school and no longer in Job Corps. There were a whole bunch of classrooms and testing areas, I felt like I was in middle school all over again. We walked down to the second block of classrooms, made a left, and our class was the second classroom from the right.

We walked in and the classrooms were smaller than a normal size classroom, but we were a small group so it fit us just fine. Instead of student desks there were mini wooden brown tables with three black chairs each. We each sat down and make ourselves comfortable. I sat in the back table, just to get a nice view of the classroom and see what was around me. I saw a lot of student art and pictures of motivational quotes. Amongst them one stood out, it was in the front of the room, in big black letters, it said. “Success is a Journey, not a destination”

I didn’t understand the full concept behind that quote until later on in life. It’s the experiences that you go through, the trials and tribulations, the successes and failures that are your journey to success. True success has no destination it’s a constant grind. A grind to get there and it’s a grind to stay there. Lisa spoke to the teacher for a couple of minutes before saying her goodbyes to us and turned us over to the teacher.

“Good Morning guys, my name is Laura Wakefield, but you can call me Ms. Laura. I will be you’re teacher for the this week. How are you guy’s this morning?” She asked politely and enthusiastically.

“Were good!” A couple of us said in excitement. “Did you guys enjoy you’re breakfast this morning? I never get a chance to eat here, but I’ve always heard the food here is really good.” Ms. Laura said.

“ Yeah, it is!” I said. “ I just recently arrived yesterday, and Ive already had two great meals!” I added as the class nodded in agreement.

“ That’s great!” Ms. Laura said. Nothing like a great meal to start the day, and may I ask you’re name young man.” Ms. Laura said with a smile on her face.

“Oh My name is Sakoli.” I replied.

“Oh my that is an interesting name, where are you from originally?” she asked.

“I’m originally from NYC, but my godfather gave me that name” I explained.

“Does it have any special meaning or origins?” Ms. Laura asked with a curious look on her face.

“Its from Africa. I’m not sure which tribe its from necessarily, but I do know it means Warrior” I said proudly.

“Wow what a beautiful name and translation, so what brought you to an Denison Job Corps Center all the way from NYC?” Ms. Laura asked.

“Well I wanted to go somewhere different. I was tired of the big city, so I wanted to see what else is out there. I have a friend who lives in Decorah that talked me into coming to visit, and I’ve been out here every since. It’s a beautiful state, its vast, and something about it is very peaceful. People actually speak to you here. They are humble, kind, and helpful. As it relates to Job Corps, I wanted to go somewhere where I could be around people my age and learn at the same time, so Job Corps seemed to fit.”

"Wow, Sakoli that’s awesome!” Ms. Laura said in amazement. It sounds like you’ve had an amazing journey, and I hope job corps adds to that journey and to where ever you’re life may take you.

“Thank you Ms. Laura.” I replied.

“Sakoli gave me a great idea, why don’t you guys stand up and introduce yourselves. Tell us your name, where you’re from, how you learned about job corps, and what you hope to accomplish while you’re here.” Ms. Laura said

So all of the students individually stood up and introduced themselves and it seemed for the most part everyone knew why they wanted to be here. Some students were here because they were still trying to figure it out and that was ok. No person has it figured out by 18 or 19 years old, sometimes you have to experience new things or situations to figure out what works for you. I call this “freestyling.” Life doesn’t come with a manual or written instructions, sometimes the things you never expect to work for you actually turns out to be the best thing to happen to you.

After the students introduced themselves Ms. Laura gave her introduction. She was 50 years old at the time. She was married and had three children. Two daughters and a son, one of her daughters actually gradated from the Denison Job Corps program, she was in the same program as Lisa is now, Nurses Aide Assistant. Her daughter worked her way up to a Licensed Nurse, and moved to Seattle, Washington. Ms. Laura said she had worked at Denison for close to 10 years, and she really enjoyed working with new students. Her wish was that every student who had decided to enter the job corps program took full advantage of the opportunity. Once Ms. Laura introduced herself she had began to Segway into her lesson.

“Job Corps is a great program and tool, you can use it to learn a trade, use that trade to get a great paying job, or you can use it to further you’re education.” Ms. Laura said. “We have several advanced training opportunities. When you complete you’re trade and you want extensive education, you can talk to you’re trade instructor and they can recommend advanced training at another center. It varies per trade, but it is a great opportunity.” Ms. Laura said.

“Denison is a great place to start, it has a great facility and great instructors who have experience in the various trade spectrums that you are interested in. All of the instructors here have at least 20 to 25 years of experience in their respective areas. So please don’t be afraid to ask questions, take notes, or be afraid to fail.” Ms. Laura explained.

“These instructors are here to help to succeed in every way possible, and they will do everything to help you. "Mistakes will happen, you will make mistakes here and on your job, its apart of the learning process. Never be afraid to fail or ask questions, if you do, you are denying yourself the opportunity to be great." Ms. Laura continued to explain.

“Man” I thought, this was a jewel right here. It is always key to apply you’re yourself, learn from your mistakes, and ask questions. Successful people always manage to do this daily. They never are afraid to make mistakes, and they are never afraid to ask questions. Listening to Ms. Laura speak I knew that she was right. If I was going to have the best chance of success here, I was going to have to ask questions about things I didn’t understand. This included things about my trade and things about finding a job, and creating a resume. I was also comfortable with the fact that the teachers that worked here had so many years of knowledge and experience. So I actually had a greater chance of success!

After speaking about some of the instructors on campus and learning a little bit about the positives of job corps, Ms. Laura handed out a somewhat of an assignment sheet. On it was questions that we answered during our introduction in introducing ourselves, but it went a little deeper. Some examples of some of the questions were:

“What were some of the obstacles that you’ve gone through in you’re personal life, describe how you over came them, and how they have made you a better person?”

“Besides a job skill or school education, what other experiences do you hope receive from attending Job Corps?”

I quickly realized that these questions were used to get a better understanding of you personally and gauging your personality characteristics. Up to the point of Welcome week all they know about you is what is in your personal intake file. They don’t really know “you.” So by asking these questions they are really killing two birds with one stone. They are finding out what type of person you are through your personality . They also are finding out who you really are and how you’re capable of handling certain situations. They feel like if you can persevere through real life situations than you can persevere through work related situations. Everything relates back to work.

After the class filled out the work assignment sheets, we shared some of our answers with each other. Everybody really wanted to be there to succeed. Listening to some of the experiences that people had was really humbling. There were stories of some of them being bullied or teased, not finishing school, struggling being a single mother or father, wanting something better for their children, not feeling smart enough or good enough, and everything in between. I noticed that that everyone really wanted to be there to prove the naysayers wrong and better their lives.This was their fight back to being put down, or being told they weren’t going to be great or be successful. They wanted to be great fathers and mothers to their children. They wanted to do everything in their power to make sure that this job corps experience was an stepping stone to something greater.

We spoke more about our experiences and realized time was flying! It was time for lunch! The good thing is that the cafeteria was in the same building as the classrooms, so we remembered how to get back down there. Lunch was from 12pm to 1pm. Since the welcome group was getting accustomed to hanging around each other we thought we would sit together. We walked up to the lunch line to get our food. I was last in line, but as were standing there I felt someone behind me tap me on my shoulder. I turned around it was a dude named "B". He was one of the guys from my dorm. He was wearing white pants with a yellow shirt. He remembered I was from NY from last nights dorm meeting.

“Ok brother, I see you with your white and yellow on! What trade are you in?” I asked.

“Im in Painting, What trade are you getting into?” He asked.

“Office Assistant” I replied.

“ Okay, Okay! That's cool!” he said.

“Welcome Week is a good week though, you actually get a chance to get you’re feet wet as far as being in the center around people, and you get to see the classes that you will be in. Know what I’m saying.” B explained.

“Really, Ok that’s what’s up!” I replied, as I got to the front of the line to receive my lunch.

“Ok bro I'm going to eat this food! I’ll see you back at the dorm after class!” B replied as he gave me a head nod

“Ok, my dude most definitely!” I replied with a smile and a head nod.

As I walked back to the table where my Welcome Group was sitting I had a great feeling. I knew that this experience was about to a great one and I was going to remember for the rest of my life. I really couldn’t describe it, but it was a great feeling. As we sat down at the table and ate a lot of us were talking about the dorm room experience after our first initial day. It kind of felt weird to us, but we also are aware that any change that you experience for the first time is weird. The change is uncomfortable because you’re in a new environment around new people.

The faces are unfamiliar and you really don’t know how the experience is going to work out. It can be a positive or negative situation. The key is to try to see every new life experience in a learning aspect. There is always something that life wants you to learn and it will put you in the perfect place at the perfect time to learn that lesson. Although sometimes you may not learn that lesson right away, the experience may help you for later life lessons down the road. You just have to just be patient, keep living, and eventually the answers will come to you when the lesson means the most.

As we talked about our life experiences, change, and our first night in the dorm we realized that time flew by fast. We finished lunch, used the bathroom to freshen up, and went back to our classroom. When we came back Ms. Laura was sitting at her desk, working on her computer, she greeted us as we walked through the door.

“Welcome back guys, did you enjoy you’re lunch?” She asked.

“Yes we did!” All of us replied with nods of approval and occasional belly rub.

“Those chefs are awesome!” Ms. Laura responded. “Which is a perfect Segue into my next topic you’re trade classes because after all that’s why you’re here right.” Ms. Laura said jokingly as we all laughed.

“Some students finish their trades in two months some students finish in two years depending on the complexity of the class and the knowledge of the student.”

“Quick question, how many of you have had a job before?” Ms. Laura asked. Three students and I raised our hands.

“Okay, so you have some degree of knowledge of how the work force is. Another question, how many of those jobs were in the field of the trade that you are currently seeking to learn?” This time no one raised their hand.

“That’s a good thing.” Ms. Laura said as we listened attentively.

“Not only are you trying something new, but you will actually get a chance to really learn the foundation of that skill here. Now the perfection of what you learn will come over time, and that goes for any skill or trade that you may learn here, or in you’re future endeavors. Whether you work a single job in the same field, various jobs in the same field, or find a new passion completely. Practice and consistency go hand and hand.” Ms. Laura explained

Ms. Laura then asked us each individually what trade we chose learn, and why we chose that trade. When it was my turn to answer I told her that the trade that caught my attention was Office Assistant. I also told Ms. Laura I learned that in addition to completing a course it was actually a requirement to become certified in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. These are programs that office assistants use to write reports, proposals, give PowerPoint presentations, and for other important documents. I told her since I had experience with these programs while in high school that it would interest me that I could become certified.

“Well Sakoli” Ms. Laura said. “Office Assistant is a good program. The teacher there is Ms. Deborah Flink, and she is a great teacher, and really nice lady, I think you will really enjoy that class. Not only will you learn and become certified in the top computer programs, but you will become a more efficient typist. The uniform code is usually black pants and a dress shirt.” Ms. Laura explained

“Oh. Ok. I have no problem with dress codes, I completed a Youth Employment Program while I was in NY that required us to dress in the same manner." I said

“That’s good. It sounds like you have some experience in this field, so you should have no problem completing this trade.” Ms. Laura said with a smile and a look of assurance.

“During this week we will tour all of the classrooms, including the classrooms of you’re individual trades. There you will get to talk to you’re instructors, introduce yourselves, and ask any questions that you may have about the program. As I mentioned briefly with Sakoli a moment ago, in office assistant as well as other classes you will wear uniforms. Uniforms will be issued by you’re instructor. We have people who will get you’re measurements situated so that we can get you uniforms that fit. The uniforms are you’re responsibility. You are required to keep them clean and neat. Remember maintaining you’re appearance is just as important as maintaining you’re employment.” Ms. Laura explained.

A student raised their hand and asked Ms. Laura if the uniform was damaged due to our training, were we still responsible. “No, they wont hold you responsible unless it’s damaged purposely or damaged multiple times. Although it happens from time to time.” Ms. Laura said.

“Painters, Welders, and Culinary have this problem sometimes because of the environments they are subjected to, but the teachers do a great job of making sure that the students practice safety. We usually have an occasional rip in the pants or shirt, but the students usually do a great job of taking care of they're clothes. It doesn't bother the students though because they are usually are proud to get their hands dirty and learn their craft.” Ms. Laura explained as she segued into the next topic

Now lets talk about something fun and exciting shall we!” Ms. Laura said with excitement.

“Paychecks! Isn’t it fun to get paid to work!” Ms. Laura said

“Oh yes it is!” One of the young ladies responded as we all shared a laugh.

Ms. Laura then broke down how we would receive our pay. She said being that we were considered entry-level employees that we would start off with $15.00 every two weeks and that every 3 months we would get a pay increase until we maxed out at $45.00 which would be equivalent to almost a year in job corps. She also said that our evaluations, trade, and dorm room scores all played a part in our paycheck raises as well. Every other Friday Ms. Laura said that we would get paid, so in a way it felt like a real job. Everyone in the room was actually excited about it.

It wasn’t $600.00 every two weeks, but it was a way to have money in you’re pocket just for doing the things that you were supposed to do. It was a way to inspire us to do better and want better for ourselves. This paycheck could go from $15.00 every two weeks to $1500.00 every two weeks and that is great money for any 18- 25 year old, young man, or woman who is just starting out. All it took was hard work and sacrifice. Ms. Laura continued to speak about a few more of job corps rules and regulations we neared the end of our day. It was a very informative one and it gave us a lot to digest and think about.

As I walked out of our classroom and headed back to the dorm room, I thought about a lot of what Ms. Laura said about Job Corps being so close to a work environment. Having a little work experience up until that point I can say that it was really an exact replica, with the exception of the campus and classroom experience. That still gave it the college experience feel. I remember leaving class that da feeling like I was moonwalking to the clouds listening to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” Ms. Laura made me feel like I could really do no wrong in Job Corps. It really felt as if The Universe was the limit instead of the sky. All I had to do was do my trade work, clean my dorm room, and stay out of trouble? Man this was easy work! The only person who could mess this up was me, and that worried me as crazy as that sounds because I was always worst enemy.

I approached the walkway to enter the boys dorm I felt a tap on my shoulder, I jumped and my body shook. The world stopped for a min. I turned around and it was a young lady wearing a grey dress outfit. She asked me if I wouldn’t mind stepping into her office so we could talk. My heart instantly started to race and my palms started to sweat. Now the first thought that pops into you’re head when you are called into an office is “Oh snap, what did I do” or “I hope I’m not in trouble” I walked into her office and I noticed pictures of her family on her desk, awards and recognition on her wall, and paperwork that was neatly organized on her desk.

She closed the door to her office, walked behind her desk and stared at me for a second. Wasting no time I immediately broke the ice

“uh-oh did I do something wrong? It wasn’t me I promise.” I said with a sarcastic smile on my face.

To both my delight and surprise she laughed and said “No! of course not! Besides we caught them on tape so, its taken care of” she replied laughing.

“My name is Catherine Kettles. I am one of the managers here. I am in charge of the dorm staff. I know you are one of our new students who just recently arrived. I just wanted to introduce myself and find out how you’re transition is going.” Ms. Katherine said

“Well thank you Ms. Katherine I appreciate that. Well I really enjoyed today. Going to my first day of welcome week really gave me a new prospective on Job Corps and what it is that you offer here." I explained

“Yes. Here at Denison Job Corps Center we really want our students to have the best possible chance to succeed. Not only do we want our students to be successful, but we want them to be educated, and we want them to have a memorable experience. We want them to participate in activities, be active in the student government, make friends on dorm, and learn in the process.” Ms Katherine explained.

“Wow, I truly believe that the people here have the students best interest at heart. I’ve only been here one day and I can tell by the way the staff and teachers interact with the students that you guys really care about the future of you’re students.” I replied.

“Wow, Sakoli I’m impressed, you are very observant. The fact that you’ve only been here one day and you noticed that shows you’re attention to detail. Which is a necessity in a job and in life” Ms. Katherine said.

“Thank You. Ms. Katherine. Where I’m from we acquire that characteristic very early in life.”

“Where are you from?” She asked.

“Oh I’m from The Bronx, New York.” I replied

“Wow, you’re a long way from home, huh? One day you’ll have to explain how you got here, but I have a couple other appointments today. I just wanted to introduce myself and touch bases with you.” Ms. Katherine said

“Of course. “Thank you again, I really appreciate it Ms Katherine" I said shaking her hand

“Ok, Sakoli enjoy the rest of you’re day.” Ms. Katherine replied.

As I walked out of her office I was both happy and relieved. I was happy that our conversation went well and relieved that I wasn’t in trouble. I walked back to my dorm room I noticed that Ms. Tiffany wasn’t in the office only Neftaly. She was in the office talking to a couple of students so I went to my room to relax. I thought about the conversation that I had with Ms. Katherine. She seemed like a nice lady. I could tell from her demeanor she meant business though. From our short conversation I could tell that she really appreciated the students and she really did want to provide the best opportunity for them to succeed, but she wasn’t going to be a pushover.

I knew that she was only going to allow a student to mess up

m glad that the conversation between us happened like it did, spontaneous and real. It really let me know that she cared about her students and the experience we gained from Job Corps.

The next day I woke up feeling rejuvenated and ready to attend class. I woke up ate my breakfast, and sat in the cafeteria until it was time to attend class. Our Welcome Leader Lisa didn’t attend this morning’s breakfast as she did yesterday’s. Some of the students that I attend class with were already sitting inside of the cafeteria when I arrived. They were scattered out sitting in different places with others. I thought it was cool that they were starting to make friends this early. I chose to sit alone and just be observant. I knew you could learn a lot of things about an environment or about people if you just sat quietly and paid attention.That’s one of the things Ms. Katherine noticed about me, and also one of the characteristics that I prided myself having.

After eating my egg and cheese sandwich (which was so delicious) I emptied my breakfast tray and walked upstairs. It was about 7:50 am and class didn’t start until 8:00 am. When I walked in class I saw Ms. Laura.

“Good Morning Sakoli, how are you this morning?” Ms. Laura asked

“I am good, Ms. Laura, how are you?” I replied.

“I am doing well thank you for asking!” She replied in a generous tone.

“ I noticed you are the first one here today” She added.

“Yeah I finished my breakfast early, so I left so I could make sure I could find the classroom by myself, so I wouldn’t be late. Lisa didn’t come to breakfast this morning so I knew I was on my own,” I said with a smile on my face.

Well that’s great forward thinking and forward planning. Sometimes things don’t go as planned and you have to improvise.This is actually a great segue into the lesson I want to teach today.” Ms. Laura said.

Just then all of the students started to walk into the room one by one. I went to sit down in a seat that was in the middle of the class. They all said Good Morning to Ms. Laura and she responded back to them. She closed the door and walked to the blackboard.

“Good Morning everyone. How was your evening last night?” Ms. Laura asked.

“It was great!” a couple of students said.

“Good!” Ms. Laura said.

“I want to go a different direction today. I want to talk about the different advantages and disadvantages that come with working at a job, forward thinking, and planning ahead. “Lets talk about the advantages of having a job first. What do you think are some of the pros of having a job?” Ms. Laura asked

One young man yelled out “You get paid!” as he rubbed his hands together with a devilish grin.

The class giggled, and even Ms. Laura smiled. “Yes that is probably the biggest advantage right because we all want to get paid, but what other advantages can you think of?”

One by one the class replied “Job benefits, having your own money, paying rent or mortgage, paying bills, opening a bank account.”

“Great. “These are great examples of the advantages of having a job. Having a job can greatly improve you’re lively hood both personally and professionally! You can gain experience in one area or field and get promoted to a higher position. You could also travel depending on which field you’re in, right, or you might be able to one day become experienced enough to train others and run a department. Which are all great advantages of having a great job and working for a great company, but lets switch gears and talk about certain disadvantages that come with being employed. What are some disadvantages that you can think of that might come with having a job?” Ms. Laura asked.

As soon as Ms. Laura said that the class got so quiet that you could hear a pen drop. Nobody could see anything that could be wrong with having a job. Even if we all have had jobs in the past we never thought of the negative things that come with having a job. When you’re young and inexperienced, you often over look small disadvantages that might come with being employed. After about 30 seconds of silence Ms. Laura chimed right in.

“Well one disadvantage might be that you may not get paid a lot at a entry level position, right, another example might be that you you’re away from you’re family, or that you might have to deal with people with bad attitudes.” Ms. Laura continued to teach

I sat there like nodding in agreement like: “Yup, you’re absolutely right!”

“Having a job is a responsibility and its not one you will always enjoy. You’re supervisor or manager may assign you tasks you may not want, you might not get paid the amount of money that you feel you are worth, and you might have to spend a lot time away from the people you love. Having a job is a sacrifice and its never an easy one, so always make sure that at any job you do in life, you enjoy it! This should be you’re starting point not ending point. Use Job Corps as a starting point to finding out who you are and what you enjoy!"

“Moving on to the next topic, how would you describe Forward Thinking?”

Ms. Laura asked. I immediately raised my hand “Yes Sakoli, how would you describe forward thinking?

“Forward Thinking is the ability to look ahead to the next step, being progressive” I explained

“Very good Sakoli!” Ms. Laura said.

“Forward thinking is just that being progressive having the ability to see the sunrise after the sunset. Staying optimistic, persevering, and keeping a solid vision. Employers look for ideal candidates like these to run their company because they know that they will be idealistic, open to suggestions and changes, they will adapt, and carry out the employers vision and goal.” Ms Laura explained.

As Ms. Laura spoke about the topic I was intrigued but also confused. I wanted to know why an employee with so many of these attributes would want to work for someone. I always had this liberating thought of forward thinkers and free thinkers should work for themselves not for a company. Why would someone want to share their ideas and knowledge with another company when these same ideologies could have been applied to building their own business or corporation. The flipside to this thought was also a blanket to support the idea of working. I always thought that a great paying job was great and it was great to be employed by a company.

It definitely was a confusing topic, but one I never seemed to be able to wrap my head around. I always thought: Was that the true definition of forward thinking? Or was it the definition that we were being taught? At the same time I also felt like if I can be in a place like this, learn, and have fun, who cares about forward thinking. I get to sit in a nice dorm, go to a beautiful recreation center, eat great food, get paid a little money, and the most important part is I’m not paying anything for it! If this is what I have to go through to get a good paying job and receive the things that I want in life then I would definitely do this twice over.

“Sakoli I’m going to pick on you for a second if you don’t mind” Ms. Laura said with a grin.

“Not a problem” I said with a smile of my own.

“Sakoli took it upon himself to leave breakfast early in order to find the class on his own.He knows eventually he will have to find his way around campus and find his way to the class room. He demonstrated two things there. He displayed initiative and he planned ahead.” Ms. Laura said.

"Thank you Ms. Laura" I said nodding my head in agreement.

"You're welcome" Ms Laura replied

“As you start you’re journey in you’re careers and in life these are two characteristics that you always want to learn. Employers, teachers, mentors, coaches, and any other person of positive influence will always want to teach someone who wants to learn and someone who cares enough about their future to make time to learn.” Ms. Laura said.

While Ms. Laura was explaining this idea I thought, wow! She could talk a newborn baby into walking with just her words. It was like watching a novice pianist play a difficult symphony with ease. She was just that gifted at teaching. This was one of the few times that I saw someone that was a true master of they’re craft work.

“Planning ahead is not only about learning, its also about being on time, having a plan B just incase plan A doesn’t work, looking at the future rather than thinking about the current moment” Ms. Laura said.

“These are lessons that you will learn here and through out you’re journey through life. You will see how each of these lessons impact you’re life personally and professionally.”

As she finished her lesson she handed out a worksheet that she wanted us to complete. It was a worksheet based on the lesson that she just taught. She wanted us to give examples in our own life whether it was a professional example or personal example. In one example we had recall a situation at a job or at home where we had to make a tough decision, and list the advantages and disadvantages of that decision. In another example we had to explain a time where we used forward thinking at home or at work, and if we didn’t, we had to explain why, and what might have been different had we used forward thinking.

In the last example we had to think of a time at home or at a job where we planned ahead. Whether it was for a vacation or school- work assignment, and we also had to lists times we didn’t plan ahead, what the result was, and what might have been different if we did. The idea of this assignment was not to list our mistakes or make us relive good or bad decision making, but to give us an idea of how knowing these things can impact our lives personally and professionally. The idea behind Ms. Laura’s lesson was to get us understand that these ideas will not only make us better employees but make us better people. If we could apply these ideas to old situations and figure out what went right when did apply them and what went wrong when we didn’t, it would help us with future decisions.

The idea of the lesson was a brilliant one and Ms. Laura was a brilliant mind. She wanted us to leave welcome week with not only a focused mind frame, but she also wanted to challenge or actions and our ways of thinking. According to Ms. Laura having a job is not only just a way to make money and support you’re family but it’s also a responsibility. When you have responsibilities or you are responsible to and for certain situations you will have to: weigh advantages vs disadvantages, be a forward thinker, and you will have to plan ahead. This was Ms. Laura’s point. Although she was speaking from the employee perspective you can still apply those same three ideologies to life in general.

After class ended I actually went straight to my dorm room and thought about everything Ms. Laura taught in class that day. Those characteristics really hit home. They seemed like the easiest adult actions to take, but they are the hardest to live I thought to myself. It’s not easy to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of a situation. Even if the situation seems beneficial for you, and, it has the greatest possibilities around it, there still might be a disadvantage to it or a sacrifice that needs to be made. I also thought forward thinking was a tough mindset to adapt because it takes a strong person to persevere through life when there can be so much negative around it.

It takes a true leader and a mental warrior to be a forward thinker. Planning ahead can also be difficult because there are no guarantees in life. We can plan for certain things to happen, or when we want to do certain things, but life may have different plans for us. The deepest part of this thought is that even though these mind shifting concepts can take you to the next level in life and you’re career they still have a flip side to them.

Even though this was my first week in job corps all of the teachers and dorm room aides I came across seemed to have given me a lot of knowledge. I wanted to digest as much as possible because this was somewhere that I was going to be for a while and I wanted to learn as much as possible about it. I wanted to learn habits that would make me a better person and a better person to work with. I was never a person to turn down information that would enlighten me. I don’t know what it was, but people saw that in me very quickly and they never hesitated to bestow a jewl upon me.

As the “Welcome Week” continued Ms. Laura continued to explain to us the different rules and regulations. We completed more work assignments and toured the campus like Ms. Laura promised us we would. I got a chance to meet my instructor Ms. Deborah or Ms. Deb as we called her. She was a very nice lady that seemed very excited to have me aboard the class. The other Welcome Students met their future teachers as well. They asked questions about the trade and seemed genuinely excited about starting the program.

We also met the Director, The Assistant Director, and we met Ms. Katherine again. They welcomed us with open arms to the center, gave us their perspective on the program, and said that if we had any questions their doors were always open. As I parted ways with Ms. Laura and my Welcome Group I thought a lot about everything that was told to me that week. I thought about how if I stay focused and apply myself that I could make a huge difference in my life, that week really inspired me to be a better leader and a better student. It was a great week!

All good things do come to and end. I was ready to for all of the challenges and success that come with being a job corps student. The last couple of months had led me to this moment. The going to the library in the cold, looking for a class that interest me and finding nothing, being frustrated that things weren’t going my way, feeling sorry for myself, feeling like I was wasting my life, and now I was about to finally start my trade! Thank you Welcome Week! Next stop Trade Class: Office Assistant!

Thank you for reading my story. Please feel free to leave a tip or feedback. Either or is greatly appreciated. Enjoy your day and happy writing everyone!