Special Education Team Leader 2007/2008School Based Business - Earth Interprizes Advisor
Occupational Course of Study Chair Person
Phone: 704-279-5232 Ext.137
Email: marshaba@rss.k12.nc.us
< "LOVE what you do and do what you LOVE" by Dr. Wayne Dyer
The Occupational Course of Study is a diploma pathway. Requirements determined by the state are very specific, students must have 300 in school work training hours, 240 out of school unpaid work hours (these include, job shadowing, apprenticeships, volunteer training, etc.), and 360 hours of paid employment. This is a life centered career/occupational education program
Occupational Preparation III & IV
We now have 6 students working out in the community at paid employment:
Our current employers are Zaxbys, Lone Star, Rockwell Feed, McDonalds, and Lazy 5 Veterinarian Clinic, Local Church, and we are hoping to include Wal-Mart in this list very soon!
We are focusing this month on interviewing and pursuing jobs. Our objective is to correctly role play job interviews, job scenerios/situations, and find jobs in a variety of media and job search engines.
We are hoping to have all seniors gainfully employed along with several of our juniors by the end of the year!
We continue our quest for paid employment for our seniors, who are required to have 360 hours of paid employment to receive their diploma.
Vocational Rehabilitation is helping us look for jobs and will assist by supplying job coaches for students who need them.
Finding jobs continues to be our biggest challenge so far for our Occupational Course of Study students.
We will continue to fill out job surveys online and in class. ( You can find one of the job surveys on the link at the bottom of the page): The Career Key
Other websites that we use for Job Surveys and evaluations are: www.careeronestop.org www.onecenter.org www.acinet.org 
www.careervoyages.com
We are making use of the 2 computers in our room on a continual rotation so that our students can complete their Career Portfolios, which are a requirement for the OCS program completion.
OCS students also run 2 in-school businesses:
MUSTANG COFFEE & BEVERAGE STABLE
opened for business in Jan 2006, and continues this school year 2007/2008:
Hours are: 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Brought to you by Occupational Prep. Classes
We serve Coffee, Hot Herbal Teas, Hot Spiced Cider, and Hot Chocolate.
Cold drinks: Mello Yellow, Coke, and Mr. Pibb
Specialty Spring Creamers!
We have also added a few yummy snacks!
*** WE HAVE ADDED TO OUR COFFEE COMPLIMENTS***
Come by and see, we have a few surprising creamer additions!
And you can now get a froofroo coffee topped off with a SPRITZ of WHIPPED CREAM for only a $1.50
We are holding the cost of our regular coffee to $1.00 right now, but it may soon be $1.00 for a never ending cup!
We have not had much interest in our foods so we have discontinued the foods for the 2007/2008 school year.
A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED THE Student's Mustang Coffee Stable!
We also run: Earth Interprizes
The students make their own items to sell in the classroom store.
Some of the items are:
ERHS Soaps (we are now making team sports logo soaps also)
, macrame necklaces and bracelets, bird houses and feeders, book holders, and key chains.
Please feel free to stop by and purchase something.
(profits benefit the Occupational Class and help us take field trips to enhance our learning)
WE REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS & hope you continue supporting us again this year!
Please let us know if you have any suggestions because we love getting new ideas!
English II:
4 of our 6 OCS students SCORED PROFICIENT on the STATE WRITING EXTEND 2 Test given last year!
We are once again writing, writing , and writing some more in preparation for the state writing test. This is a great preparation for life and to keep the mind active! We have some very talented students and they soak up new writing knowledge like sponges.
English III and IV:
Literature is our focus and we have been reading, "A Man Called Horse". We will also be watching parts of the movie and discussing the focus of learning for that story.
Speakers for Occupational Preparation Classes:
We will be lining up speakers from a variety of businesses in the community, and getting speakers with a variety of community service areas. We bring in speakers from businesses and volunteers to talk about pursuits for adult life.
We will be preparing for NCExtend 2 tests in English I and Science all year long. I'm sure the students will do well on these tests.
Occupational Preparation IIIB & IVB - Will be spending time looking for jobs and working on paid and volunteer positions.
Occupational Preparation IV - class is honing in on their employability qualifications, filling out job applications, going for job interviews, and trying to find employment.
**Studying the drivers manual by playing Driver's Ed. Jeopardy is one of our daily adventures this year also!
Paid employment:
We are trying to find jobs in the community for our students with the assistance of our new transition coordinator and Vocational Rehab.
We have had our seniors out putting in applications at SAM's Car Wash, Sonic, Consolidated Trucking, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Subway, Fred's, and Lowe's.
We have had several students interview for jobs and are hoping that soon they will be going to paid jobs to complete their working hours for their OCS portfolios.
Computer skills III and IV - Researching holidays.... Job hunting skills, Creating a budget and a data base and spread sheet are all skills that will be worked on in January.
The students also do their career portfolio on the computer. These are a graduation requirement of the OCS program.
Our 11th graders will continue working on a data base & spreadsheets for their small business venture. 12th graders will research prices for items they are using in their businesses.
Many of our seniors have completed their Career Portfolios, and are ready to make their presentations in May. Many of our juniors are doing very well and working diligently on their portfolios.
All grade levels need to work on portfolios from the time they enter the OCS program as a freshman.
SENIORS must complete a portfolio before graduation and do a presentation in front of a panel of adults for graduation requirements.
SENIOR TEA will be on May 29th and they will present their portfolios at that time, then celebrate with staff, families, and peers!
Science Classes:
We are studying the earth formations, including volcanos, rivers, gorges, and caves.
We are planning our next field trip to the Linville Gorge and Caverns.
This will be an overnight trip so we need to earn a lot of money for this one to cover hotel rooms and meals, plus our admission to the caverns and any other sights that we may find interesting.
The students would like to observe first hand the cave formations that we have been studying in class.
Thanks to our supporters who have purchased soaps, necklaces, and other services and crafts, that have provided us funds to be able to go on these great field trips!
THANK YOU to everyone who helped with our yard sale it was a HUGE success, and we are having another on Saturday May the 3rd from 7 a.m. to 12 noon!
Our trip is May 19th and 20th! And we plan on learning a LOT!
Thank you everyone for your support!
Happy Graduation JUNE 13th
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