Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
PIERCETON - Whitko Community School Board approved applying for $40,500 in Workforce Development Grants for funding to expand the district's job shadowing program.
If received, the monies will fund expansion of the currently volunteer-run program that matches eighth-graders with area professionals. In the program the students shadow their job role models to get an idea what their future career would be like.
George Hathaway, coordinator of the eighth-grade program, presented his grant proposal to the board, outlining the outcomes and uses. If granted, the monies would purchase computers for Internet access for student research, an office assistant and a stipend for Hathaway.
A grant-writing team consisting of teachers, school administrators and parents has completed the grant-writing process. The grant budget allows $5,000 for staff development, $10,000 for a coordinator stipend, $15,000 for a computer assistant, $2,000 for transportation and $8,500 for computers.
The computers and computer assistant would be split between the middle school and the high school.
An already received $5,000 Workforce Development Grant will include taking teachers to workplaces that students may choose in order to coordinate classwork with what the students see. "Workplaces will set aside a tour for us to show math teachers all the math applications; in another case they would show the English teachers the communication applications," Hathaway said.
In other business, the board approved adding an ag education class for eighth-graders at Whitko Middle School. Principal JoElla Smyth called the class another quality education option for students at the school.
Whitko ag instructor Roger Carr explained the nine-week exploratory ag class to the board. Carr has wanted to expand ag education to the middle school for some years, he said.
Carr traced the history of ag education, noting that the first ag education program in Indiana started in 1917. Since then, Carr said, ag-related jobs have shifted to only 2 percent of the overall employment.
The new program will create more career awareness for the students and encourage critical thinking, Carr said. The class will not create the need for additional instructors, but will use Carr and other teachers in its curriculum.
