Coral Bay Students Put Life Lessons To Use in Job Club

 

Above: Coral Bay Job Club students pose with co-leaders Mark Corbeil, far left, and Bonny Corbeil, far right. Mark Corbeil, below, talks about the importance of interview skills.

Just two weeks into a month-long Department of Labor sponsored summer program in Coral Bay, 10 St. John students have already created professional resumes, perfected their interview skills and tackled their teenage shyness.

The students, who all hail from Coral Bay and range in age from 13 to 17 years old, are earning $15 per day to take part in the Coral Bay Job Club/Career Exploration, led by brother and sister team Bonny and Mark Corbeil.

“This program is really ‘experiential’ and hands-on,” said Bonny Corbeil. “These teens are building confidence in public speaking and have learned the importance of the one minute speech in obtaining work. We are very focused on the students both finding the right future career and learning about the important tourism industry which is so imperative to St. John.”

Those hands-on exercises, from mock interviews to personalty analysis, have already begun to show positive results.

“I learned how to talk when getting a job and how to act in an interview,” said 17-year-old Dallas Phillips.

“This program taught me how to get rid of my shyness,” said LaTiah Jackson, 14.

From public speaking to being honest, Coral Bay Job Club students have already taken their recently learned life lessons to heart.

“I learned how to approach someone about a job and not just go up and say, ‘I want a job,’” said 15-year-old Courtney Matthias.

“I learned to stay confident during an interview and that the best way to answer a question is honestly,” said Raven Phillips, 13.

“I learned to speak louder, to have a positive attitude and to not be shy,” said LaShawn Jackson, 15.

“Coral Bay Job Club taught me how to act in a phone interview and how to not be shy,” said 17-year-old Loran Jackson.

The program has also helped students to ensure they are understood.

“I learned to speak louder and slower,” said 16-year-old Cassandra Mathurin.

“I learned how to write a resume and cover letter,” said Asha Williams, 15. “I also learned to be more confident and to talk louder.”

Rahshek’ka Titre learned about how many career possibilities exist, she explained.

“I learned that there are 45,000 job titles, there are 16 different personality types and that each job requires hard work and soft skills,” said Titre.

The program meets Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at a classroom at Guy Benjamin School and has already resulted in one new business venture.

LaShawn Jackson and Courtney Matthias have put their natural chicken capturing skills to good use, the two friends explained.

“We used to catch a lot of roosters and hens when were little,” said Matthias.

When the two discovered people would pay them to remove roosters from their property, the budding entrepreneurs started Rooster Round-up.

“We had to come up with another solution because it was hard to grab them,” said Matthias. “So we got a big mongoose trap and the rooster went in there.”

Matthias and Jackson already have several happy clients and will surely expand their enterprise in the future.

At the beginning of the program, each student completed a personality assessment which helped them identify possible future careers and create corresponding resumes to reflect those hopes.

“If you find something that you love to do, you will never work a day in your life,” said Mark Corbeil.

Coral Bay Job Club also focuses on action and honesty, Mark Corbeil explained.

“Life rewards action,” he said. “It’s all about the interview. Whether you are 18 or 65, the hardest question to answer is ‘tell us a little about yourself.’”

“You have to be passionate and honest,” said the Coral Bay Job Club co-leader. “That is what we call the one minute speech, a short speech you share about yourself about your skills and core values. The most marketable skill in the world is a positive attitude.”

While focusing on careers, Coral Bay Job Club students also brainstorm about local job possibilities, Bonny Corbeil added.

“We talk about finding ‘survival jobs’ to develop experience for their resumes and to fund college,” she said. “In fact each student now has an official resume, has developed skills for job interviews, both those in person and on the telephone, and we’ve done many extensive role-playing exercises to develop these skills.”

“There are a lot of great examples of teenagers who have done amazingly well in business,” said Mark Corbeil.

The program is funded through a $4,500 grant from DOL, with support from the Coral Bay Community Council, which is covering administration costs, and the Rotary Club of St. John, which donated a video camera so students could record practice interview sessions, Bonny Corbeil explained.

The program is hopefully just the first of its kind to bring life skills to St. John youngsters, added Bonny Corbeil.

“So many of these students want jobs and they just need to learn how to sell themselves,” she said. “Our goal is to help these young people get jobs and we are trying to plant the seeds to develop more skills programs. We are hoping that this carves the way for more quality life skills programs for our St. John youth.”