Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 14, 1993 TAG: 9305140254
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LEIGH ALLEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The castration of a Chihuahua staggered him in the morning. A bladder-stone removal from a miniature schnauzer was the final blow in the afternoon.
"No surgeries," Harrington said. "After what I've seen, I don't think so."
That was exactly the kind of reaction school officials hoped to get when they sent 600 students to spend a day getting hands-on experience in Roanoke at jobs of their choice.
Roanoke schools' Community Relations Supervisor Lissy Runyon said she hopes the experience will give students a better appreciation for how their education applies to the world outside school.
"The students are always saying, `I don't understand why I need to know this.' Hopefully, this will show them why."
The more experience students have working in a job, the better they will understand what skills they need to develop in order to be successful, Runyon said.
"They really learn by doing it. We tell the employers to put the students to work as much as possible."
The Work-A-Day program is especially valuable if it makes students change their minds about what they want to do, Runyon said.
"A big part of career development is narrowing down the field," she said.
For Harrington, the field has now been narrowed by one. But others involved in the program say the opportunity to get experience at a job reinforced what they had always believed.
Hard hat and goggles strapped into place, Quento Hale stood under a shower of sparks and steel at Norfolk Southern Co.'s rail-car welding shop as if he had been employed there all his life. Given the chance to work there, he'll take it, he says.
"I'm interested in the welding," Hale said as he watched a Norfolk Southern worker burn a hole through one-half inch of metal with a plasma blaster. "My dad was a welder for 20 years. Most of my family is welders."
Hale and nine other students from Patrick Henry High School's welding class spent the day touring the plant. Although they didn't get a chance to actually help put one of the rail cars together, most said they picked up things about the job they never could have learned in a classroom.
They were amazed at the size of the plant, how labor intensive the rail cars were and how quickly the welders worked.
Long after Harrington had stepped out of the surgery room at the Vinton Veterinary Hospital for some fresh air, Denise Cochram was leaning in for a better look.
"Can the dog feel that?" the Patrick Henry student asked.
Dr. Kathryn Neel said students interested in becoming veterinarians often volunteer to help out around her hospital. About half of them don't make it through their first surgery, she said.
But Cochram said her day in Neel's office reinforced her desire to become a vet. She said she plans to overcome her only two obstacles: a fear of watching animals die and eight more years of studies after she graduates from high school.
"I'm serious about it. I really want to be a vet," Cochram said.
Students from Roanoke and Salem and Botetourt, Roanoke and Franklin counties participated in the program, which will be continued next year, Runyon said.
by CNB