A number of youth in Williams earned a little extra money this summer thanks to the Williams Summer Teen Employment Program (STEP). For many of the teens, the program counted as their first formal introduction to the local workforce. Patricia Helgeson, program coordinator with the Williams Alliance, said that 80 percent of the students are working for the first time. A total of 11 students participated in the program this year.
"I like the (STEP) acronym, because it identifies students taking a first step in their lives, going into an employment opportunity, learning work ethics," Helgeson said.
Key sponsors for the program include the city of Williams, the Williams Alliance in collaboration with the Williams Unified School District and Williams Clean and Beautiful.
"They have been the sponsors of the program for the last two summers. Three summers ago the city of Williams sponsored the program in collaboration with the county. These last two years we've been doing it locally," Helgeson said. "One of the reasons that this program is so important and one of the reasons why we've done it for the past three years is that providing education is very important to the youth at this time as well. We've done workshops every year. The workshops that we did this year were in collaboration with Inspirations. They were able to bring in some trainers that did some financial training (and) interviewing skills for them. We had a lady come to Williams from the University of Arizona. She did goal setting and work ethics workshops with them. All of those things are very important to us and to the city of course, who is the main funder of this program. We want to help teach these young adults work ethics and to prepare them for the workforce in the future."
The five week program ended with their final workday July 17, where the youth worked to paint the offices of the Alliance. A celebration was held July 18 to mark the conclusion of another successful summer for the program. Youth in the employment program were recognized for their hard work during the event. A number of the youth also created a display for the celebration, which chronicled the numerous jobs performed by the group throughout the summer. Besides painting the offices of the Alliance, youth in STEP also painted at Camp Civitan, planted grass at the Williams Recreation and Aquatic Centers, pulled weeds throughout the city and performed various duties at the H.A. Clark Memorial Airfield.
STEP supervisor Diana Scott accompanied the students each day while they performed their jobs throughout the community.
"We (also) cleaned Dorothy Schulte's house, her flowerbed, we planted flowers and cleaned up around her," Scott said. "This summer we worked hard. They're learning a lot of work ethics."
For 14-year-old Edgar Duarte said he learned a lot during his summer with STEP.
"I liked all the jobs, because I've done this before," Duarte said. "I'm used to it."
He said his favorite job was the planting excursion to Dorothy Schulte's house.
"It was fun, because we learned how to plant," Duarte said.
Fifteen-year-old Alma Hernandez said she likes the STEP program and the opportunities it presented to her.
"We got more experience out of it and how you meet more people," Hernandez said. "I met a lot more people during this job. It was fun. I liked when we painted at the Saint Agnes Apartments.
