At OHS, there is a course that grants students the ability to step into the real world, allowing them to interweave what they have learned in school into a more professional scene. Workplace experience is a class at OHS offered to juniors and seniors who have jobs outside of school.
The Workplace experience class has not always been available for students to choose at OHS–in fact, before the class came to OHS, there were other schools who had already added it to their courses..
“At district meetings it was brought up because other schools had been doing it. We were very interested in bringing it here, and we had a lot of support from Dr. Spurgeon,” said Kathleen Giacini, counselor.
The workplace experience class is not a physical, on-campus class, so it makes sense that many upperclassmen do not know what it entails. However, the class is exactly what the title suggests – gaining real-world experience from a job.
“I heard about it in the auditorium when we had a meeting about picking our classes for the next year,” said Tobi Morgan, senior.
When it comes to breaking down the classwork and requirements for workplace experience, there isn’t much to explain. In technical terms, it is still a class where students receive a letter grade that appears on their transcript, but the assignments are simple and painless.
“The students in that class have to work at least five hours a week, but they also have to upload pay stubs [to Canvas] for proof, and they have to do it with their information blacked out,” said Tracey Heath, counselor.
While students must submit their pay stubs, there are also straightforward assignments that students fill out regarding their week at work.
“They’re not difficult assignments – they’re [questions about] things that you’ve learned; struggles you’ve had that week. They’re not long two page essays, but they are required,” Heath said.
Another requirement the class has is being able to maintain a stable job throughout the duration of the school year.
“You have to have a job the whole time- you can’t be a job hopper…We’ve had kids who were in precarious situations because they quit their job for some reason, and that isn’t really an option. You have to be committed to doing that for the duration of the year,” Heath said.
The workplace experience class replaces what would have been an elective in a student’s schedule, meaning that they do not have to be physically present on campus for as long.
“It helps by allowing one less class in students’ physical school day, which is really appealing to a lot of people… it can free up time to be getting credit from the learning that they’re doing in the classes,” Giacini said.
The class can also be beneficial for students who are already involved in a jam-packed daily schedule; juggling sports, clubs, and other extracurriculars all at once can be difficult to maintain.
“I really love the class because it allows me time to work, but also not spend all my free time working,” said Madison Fulmer, junior.
Another reason the class is beneficial is because it helps students consider their job more than if they worked and didn’t not take the class.
“[The class] helps me reflect on my job more because I don’t think about it normally – but it makes me think about what I actually do at my job,” Morgan said.
The workplace experience class offers students a chance to acquire skills that they wouldn’t be able to in a typical elective class; ones that they might take with them post graduation and into the real world.
“You are learning different things at work than you learn at school. If you didn’t do well on a test in school, you retake it. At work, you have to show up on time, and you have to do what your bosses ask you,” Heath said.
Students at OHS work at many places, ranging from grocery stores to fast food places to retail stores, and everything in between. Although high school jobs may seem insignificant in the big picture, it prepares students for a true job someday, and the workplace experience class allows this to happen.
“What you are learning in those hours at work is huge, just as important as the things students learn at school…any time students get some real world knowledge and experience, there are many long-term benefits overall,” Giacini said.
