The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Boys and Girls Clubs help with job skills
LHS senior gets 1st paycheck
One of Lorain’s newest student workers collected his first paycheck in a job training program that could grow to include more young people.
In January, Ke’Andre Davis, 18, a senior at Lorain High School, began working for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Lorain.
On Feb. 9, his parents, teachers, classmates and club staff had a recognition ceremony as Executive Director Mike Conibear presented Davis with his first paycheck as an employee of the Boys and Girls Clubs.
Davis, the son of Kevin and Marla Davis of Lorain, is a special needs student at the High School.
As an autistic student, Davis has an individualized education program.
His instructors, Intervention Specialist Dan Blatt and Paraprofessional Scott Morris, aim to build a transition-to-work program with Lorain City Schools and the Boys & Girls Clubs.
The program will pair the special needs students with the Boys and Girls Clubs, and maybe other employers in the future, so the students learn skills for life after graduating from Lorain High School.
“I knew that it was vital for my scholars to learn different job skills so that they can be employable in some capacity after graduation,” Blatt said. “I am of the belief that all of my scholars can contribute to an employer in some capacity or another.”
After graduating, some of the students may live with their parents or in assisted living environments, Blatt said.
However, they also deserve a chance to get out of the house, work and help the communities they live in, he said.
“They’re going to have to enter the real world at some point,” Morris said.
Training in high school helps the youths understand the employer-employee relationship and to take direction from adults other than their teachers, Blatt said.
On Feb. 7, Davis and his classmates were at the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Desich Family Campus, 4111 Pearl Ave. in Lorain, to sort rolls for the meals that the Boys & Girls Clubs serve at after school youth programs. It’s no small task. That day, Kathy Lengyel, food program coordinator at the Boys and Girls Clubs, prepared about 1,219 meals of Swedish meatball sliders, mashed potatoes, mixed fruit cups and milk for delivery to 24 schools and sites around Lorain County.
A few hours later, Davis was on the job at Lorain’s Frank Jacinto Elementary School, 2515 Marshall Ave., to help set out 60 meals for the students and club advisers.
“Overall, he’s a hard worker,” said Chris Penny, Boys & Girls Clubs site leader at the school. “I know he only spends two hours a day with us, but he’s a hard worker.”
Davis already keeps a busy schedule with his studies and the National Honor Society.
He was homecoming king in fall 2017 and competes in Special Olympics in basketball, swimming and bowling.
The family members are avid Lorain High basketball fans.
Davis’ older brother Kevin, class of 2016, played for the Titans; his brother Kameron is a junior guard on the varsity squad this season; and younger brothers, twins Kalib and Kahlib, are on the freshman team.
And Davis loves his job, his mother said.
“It gives him a sense of independence,” Marla Davis said. “And also something to do because his brothers do sports after school and he participates in Special Olympics, but it’s not every single day.
“So him going to work three days out of the week, it means a lot to us.”