Life beyond high school days
Preparing students for the ‘real’ world
As part of an ongoing effort to prepare students for the real world of jobs and adult responsibilities, Rappahannock County High School recently offered several valuable opportunities for upperclassmen. Helping students hone skills that will be crucial to their success as they transition into life after high school, these activities were designed to teach important life lessons in an effective and enjoyable way.
RCHS juniors and seniors recently participated in a Junior-Senior Fest held at the Castleton Festival Theater House. Participants in this life-skills training program spent the day completing six unique workshops. Each session offered hands-on, informative, and entertaining instruction in areas that are relevant to life beyond high school. This outstanding event was provided to RCHS students at no cost thanks to the efforts of the Virginia Cooperative Extension Office.
Spearheaded by 4-H coordinator Jenny Kapsa, the workshops were staffed by community volunteers. Sessions covered topics ranging from managing personal checking and savings bank accounts to building self-confidence (even when you’re not feeling confident) to learning how to make financially smart and nutritious food choices. Career skills were also covered, with workshops on career coaching, interview and resume skills and tips, and a session on the relationship between education levels and career income.
The lessons learned in the career skills workshops were reinforced at the Senior Interview Day, a new initiative at RCHS led by principal Mike Tupper. The senior interviews gave every RCHS senior the opportunity to gain a valuable life skill by participating in a mock job interview. Interviews were done by community volunteers and local business leaders who conducted the process with all the formali- ties of a real job interview. Students came to the interview with a prepared resume and practiced the prior coaching they had received on interview skills.
In the same manner as seen on recent job-oriented reality shows, students’ performances were reviewed with the interviewer at the end of each session, with as much time devoted to the review as to the actual interview. Immediate and honest feedback was provided to each student to help foster an even better performance when an actual job is at stake. And while no real job was on the line in this exercise, the students’ performances did count as a grade, bringing a little bit of reality to this valuable role-playing experience.