Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 8, 1991 TAG: 9104080156
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Cave Spring High School senior is one of 35 students in the county's Mentor Apprenticeship Program, and since October, she has been getting an up-close look at local government - with the help of Supervisor Lee Eddy.
The program pairs college-bound juniors and seniors with local professionals so they can find out what it's really like to earn a living as an artist . . . an architect . . . a clinical psychologist . . . a pediatrician . . . a lawyer . . . .
"These students are so bright they can go into any number of careers," said Marlena Jones, a resource teacher for the county's gifted program. "It's a matter of finding which one they're going to enjoy the most. This gives them a chance to see what [a particular career] is like on a day-to-day basis."
Students in the program also attend seminars on topics such as how to write resumes and how to smooth the transition from high school to college.
Guyre is considering a career in international relations with the State Department. Unfortunately, there aren't many ambassadors or diplomats in the Roanoke Valley - but some would say that local politics can be just as complex and intriguing.
"I wanted to learn more about local government because that's the government that most affects your day-to-day life," Guyre said.
She's been attending the twice-a-month meetings of the Board of Supervisors and following, among other issues, the disputes over the widening of Crystal Creek Drive and the route of the "trash train" that would haul garbage to the new regional landfill in west Roanoke County.
Eddy discusses issues with her and sends her background reports on items on the board's agenda. "If I have a question, I'm not afraid or embarrassed to go up and ask him. He's real friendly and nice."
From watching the Board of Supervisors, she has learned that being a local elected official "isn't glamorous," she said. "They get a lot of praise if things go right. But if things go wrong, nobody wants to be your friend."
For his part, "I think it's an excellent program," Eddy said. "I'm very much in favor of giving students the opportunity to see what the real world is like."
Melanie Carter, a senior at Northside High School, is one of two students who have been in the program two years. As a junior, she worked with an industrial psychologist at General Electric. Now she is working with a husband-and-wife team of clinical psychologists.
Carter, who wants to major in psychology at Virginia Tech, has been sitting in on counseling sessions with patients suffering from the eating disorder bulimia. "It's been great," she said. "There's no other way I could have gotten experience in this field."
Jones said school administrators want to start doing follow-up studies to see how many students choose careers in the fields they work in during the program.
One of the professionals in the program this year has experienced it from the other side, too.
Vickie McCormick was in the program in 1983, the year it began. She worked with Kelly Zuber, who then was a reporter and now is director of public affairs at TV station WDBJ, Channel 7. She went on to James Madison University - Zuber's alma mater - and majored in telecommunications. She was host of Boone & Co.'s now-defunct "The Sunday Home Show," works part time at radio station WPVR, and is looking for a job in public relations.
"The wonderful thing about [the program] is it gives you so much confidence when you go to college," McCormick said. "I felt I was a little bit ahead of the game."
Now McCormick is working with a Northside High School senior, Stephanie Thompson, who's considering a career in TV broadcasting. "It makes me feel good to be able to give something back," McCormick said. "It rejuvenates me to see her so full of confidence and ready to tackle the world."
Thompson might be learning a lesson from the down side of McCormick's experience, too.
"She could never see herself where I am now - between jobs and struggling to make ends meet. . . . I try to encourage her to be realistic, to have a strong minor or a double major in college so she'll have something to fall back on if broadcasting doesn't work out."
by CNB