Campus News
Cleveland Open House Job Fair
On October 29, 2015, Cleveland Job Corps Center held its annual Open House/Job Fair. This Open House attracted over 50 employers and community resource providers. This meeting was an effort to connect the community and our potential graduates seeking full-time, part-time and internship positions in the Pharmacy Technician, Home Health Aids, STNA, Medical Assistant, Medical Office Support, Carpentry, Sign and Display, Bricklaying and Facilities Maintenance fields.
During this event we open our doors to the community and welcomed them to tour our center, meet our instructors and to speak with our students about campus life at the Cleveland Job Corps Center. Over 300 of our student were able to participate and have a one-on-one opportunity to speak directly with employers about possible long term employment or apprenticeship programs within our industry trades.
The Cleveland Job Corps Center gained much exposure due to this event and received great reviews from employers about how they look forward to participating in our Spring Open House. They were very impressed with our students and the professionalism of our staff. Ms. Kimberly Minton from Front Steps Housing and Services stated “I am looking forward to having a table at your next job fair, and I have already posted literature from today’s event all over my building. I came for a job fair/open house and left with a wealth of knowledge, contacts, and hopefully a future partnership/collaboration with Job Corps”.
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Purple Heart Homes
Local veteran Corporal Leo Robinson, who was injured while serving in Iraq received renovation services to his home through Purple Heart Homes. Corporal Robinson lost partial vision and some of his mobility (he currently gets around with the help of a service dog).
Purple Heart Homes acquired the help of the Cleveland Job Corps Center (CJCC) to renovate Corporal Robinson’s home through the Bricklayer’s Union. Purple Heart Homes helps to alleviate some of the costs of home ownership for injured vets in return for community service hours and public speaking from the injured recipient of the home. This is also made possible through the work of volunteers to fix up the house obtained from the land bank.
CJCC students Quatika McCane, Eric Green, Thomas Black, and Dwayne Pryor went with Bricklaying Instructor, John Butcher, to replace seven metal frame windows with glass block windows and repaired the front porch area of the home by laying several hundred bricks in the two days they were there. The students got a lot out of the work, learning to perform their skills on a real house outside of class. Mr. Robinson made a remarkable impression on the students as he spoke with them about his experiences and expressed his gratitude to the students for repairing his house.
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Veterans Day Luncheon
On November 11, 2015, the Cleveland Job Corps Center (CJCC) celebrated Veterans currently employed at the center with a complimentary luncheon in their honor. The following Veterans are part of the CJCC family; U.S. Marine Corps: Darrell McClendon, Andre Townsend and Robert Miller; U.S. Army: Enisha Hawkins, Kenneth Hardy and Elliott Lilly; U.S. Navy: Kelvin Lopez, Anthony Taylor and Ronald Overby; Army Reserve: Sabrena Cottrell, Center Director William Houston, Deputy Center Director Jorge Pedroza, Social Development Director Woody Allen, Finance & Administration Director, and Business Community Liaison Harriet Hadley welcomed, thanked and served the Veterans a New York Strip steak, baked potato and salad. Everyone enjoyed the delicious meal that was prepared by Chef Marty Schemensky.
The CJCC family is honored to work alongside of all of our Veteran’s and we thank them for making the stars in the American flag shine so bright. CJCC would like to THANK every Veteran and their Families for their service, dedication, commitment and sacrifices.
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Apprenticeship Week
From November 2nd to November 6th, the United States of America celebrated its first annual National Apprenticeship Week with Apprenticeship USA to acknowledge the contributions that apprenticeships provide to the national economy and workforce, and provide an opportunity for the Apprenticeship community to tell the story of apprenticeships. Apprenticeships are for those who aspire to be great, lead in innovation and creativity, strive to innovate in business and industry, and recognize the value of combining paid on the job learning coupled with a substantial educational component to build generational greatness in careers and commerce. The city of Cleveland was even given the honor of a visit by the Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez, who stated "When I talk to parents, and they say, 'Apprenticeship? That sounds like yesterday's concept.' What I tell them is that an apprenticeship is the other college except without the debt, the 'earn while you learn' model works." One of his prime goals as Secretary of Labor is to develop and foster an apprenticeship ‘ecosystem.’
Apprenticeships are an “earn and learn” training model that combines work-based learning with related classroom instruction using the highest industry standards. This carries on the same classroom instruction combined with work-based learning that stu-dents receive at Cleveland Job Corps. According to the Department of Labor, companies that offer Apprenticeship programs can diversify their workforce, improve produc-tivity and profitability, standardize training, reduce turnover, receive tax credits and more.
While 75 years ago, the apprenticeship system began in construction and other skilled trades, today there are apprenticeships in more than 1,000 occupations, including ca-reers in healthcare, IT, manufacturing, and more. The U.S. currently has approximately 375,000 apprentices working with more than 150,000 employers. Last year, President Obama established a goal of doubling the number of Apprenticeships within five years. The inaugural National Apprenticeship Week is one of several initiatives helping achieve that goal.
Cleveland Job Corps places students into a variety of apprenticeships and internships in jobs related to career fields that the students are interested in and will provide them life-time career opportunities. The Center also has four “pre-Apprenticeship” classes that are registered with; and recognized, by the Department of Labor: Building Construction Technology, Bricklaying, Sign and Display, and Carpentry.
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Kickoff For Kindness
Several students from the Cleveland Job Corps Centers (CJCC) traveled to the Wolstein Center at the Cleveland State University to be motivated to stand up for what they believe in and take action to make a positive change in their schools and communities. CJCC students attended the Project Love Kickoff for Kindness campaign "Building a Perfect Season of Kindness, Caring & Respect." The campaign is an interactive Kindness rally that brought thousands of students together from across Northeast Ohio. Students heard from several motivational speakers that inspire students to unite in demonstrating kindness, care and respect the number one priority in their lives, school and community.
Throughout the event students were encouraged to create the "rules of the game" for their schools and tweet them, as a way of integrating what they learned from each of the guest speakers. Students take the information they learn from the Project Love workshop and utilize them at their school, likewise they teach their peers how to have healthy relationships, become leaders and to stand up to bullies. In addition to creating their "rules of the game" for their schools, students are encouraged to define what they want their school to stand for.
Project Love programming empowers teens to take the lead in building a culture of kindness, caring and mutual respect in their schools. Project Love seminar programming focuses on interpersonal skills, visioning, team building, action planning, and strategies for carrying out kindness or service projects. Each day in the United States, over 160,000 students stay home from school due to fear of being teased, taunted or bullied. Project Love programming empowers students to examine their choices, and learn how their choices impact others. Unlike programs that tell students what they should do from an authoritative viewpoint, Project Love programs make students aware of the power they have to make a positive difference. Retrieved from http://www.projectlove.org/schools.php.
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HBCU College Fair
On Saturday November 21, 2015 Cleveland Job Corps Center (CJCC) Leisure Time Learning Coordinator, Sabri-na Streeter and Academic Instructor Wazirah Moore attended The Cleveland Council of Black Colleges Alumni Association 13th Annual Historically Black College & University (HBCU) College Fair with CJCC four students. Thousands of students, parents and school representatives filled Warrensville Heights High School who hosted the fair from 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM. The fair drew students from all across the state of Ohio.
The HBCU College Fair is a college recruitment and exposure event that features historically black colleges and universities, in addition to introducing prospective high school and community college transfer students to the many options available. The event serves as an avenue for students to obtain resources, opportunities and to engage with more than 30 HBCUs, educational organizations and vendors. “I think the most amazing feeling was seeing the students and their faces at the pep-rally”, expressed Moore. “They were beaming with such excitement and wonder.”
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CSU Preview Day
On Saturday, November 7 2015, a total of 21 students accompanied by Cleveland Job Corp Center (CJCC) Staff and Serrato Corporation Staff loaded a bus at 5:00 AM and headed out to attend Central State University’s (CSU) “College Preview Day.” Arriving safely to Wilberforce, OH, the day kicked off with students and staff being greeted at the door of the Beacom/Lewis Gymnasium by enthusiastic and cheerful CSU campus tour guides. CSU tour guides directed and assisted everyone to the registration and check-in area where students applied for CSU (application fee waived) and meet with admissions and financial aid representatives.
Next, hundreds of students, family members and school representatives from all over Ohio, Detroit and Chicago gathered in the Gymnasium to enjoy an amazing “Welcome” which included a Pep Rally, a dance contest where our very own Cheyanne Burton (Nurse Assistant, Advance Career Training-Tri-C), Kadjah Jackson (medical office support), and Dontez Hicks (Sign & Display) wowed the crowd with their dance moves. Accordingly, the College Dean and Student Union Director wel-comed everyone to the school. Guests also enjoyed performances from CSU’s Grammy Award Nominated Choir, the Marching Marauder Band, the Black Diamond/Belles, and the Cheerleaders.
After that, students were separated into groups based on their preferred academic interest. Students met with the deans and professors from the Colleges of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, The College of Education, The College of Business, and the Col-lege of Science & Engineering. Each student attended mock classes in their perspective field on study and toured the campus.
The day concluded at the McPherson Stadium where students were provided free admission to the Central State Football game that included free lunch catered by Chick-fil-A, and an awesome performance from the Marauder Marching Band. Students had an opportunity to meet with current students, fraternities and sororities. CJCC students and staff that attended CSU’s Preview Day agreed that the overall experience was memorable, exciting and educational.
“I loved how the MC at the Pep Rally defined their pride in being Marauders and I believe what he stated changed a lot of people’s perspectives and added value to the experience,” stated Camale Allen, CJCC Career Transition Readiness Specialist.
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SGA Leadership Conference
The Social Development Director, Woody Allen, Leisure Time Learning Coordinator, Sabrina Streeter and the Student Government Association (SGA) of the Cleveland Job Corps Center (CJCC) attended the SGA Leadership Conference at the Horizons Outdoor Learning Center in Shenandoah Valley, VA on October 26, 2015. The theme for the four-day conference was “Safety,” objectives included; ways to improve safety on our centers, enhancing student leadership skills, team building and improving the quality of life on Job corps campuses.
Job Corps students and advisors engaged in leadership, team building, and presentation workshops led by experienced speakers, Horizons Rope’s Course Challenge and other activities. The students were able to overcome challenges, learn patience and how to work together as a team.
CJCC students not only set the bar high, but they successfully accomplished each task as a team with determination and confidence. The skit and final presentation they performed on “Safety” was phenomenal! By the end of the week, they were ready to get back to Cleveland to start making changes.
On the last night at Camp Horizons, everyone dressed in semi-formal attire and attended an enjoyable banquet. Students exchanged contact information with students from other Job Corps centers so that they could continue to network and assist each other with the progress of Job Corps centers.
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Spotlight on construction
Famicos Garden
HBI Building Construction Tech-nology Instructor, Robert Peck accompanied by five Cleveland Job Corps Center (CJCC) students, teamed up with Famicos Neighbor-hood Project Manager, Erica Robinson and her staff to assist with harvesting and winterizing a garden on Lee Street.
Students experienced several different aspects of gardening which included harvesting produce, winterization, learning about compost in addition how to sustain an organic garden. Students harvested approximately 4,000 tomatoes and 500 peppers; the produce will be donated to local market gardener, Gloria Jalil. Jalil is a resident who owns and operates Gloria’s Greens and supports herself solely on the sale of her produce.
As a spring project, Famico will be supplying building material for the CJCC Building Construction Technology students to build replacement raised planting beds for the Lee area garden.
Through harvesting and winterizing the garden, our students experienced a long lasting life skill that they may not have experienced otherwise without the part-nership CJCC has with Famicos.
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Page last updated:
Thursday, April 28, 2016