Pictured are Dr. Jennifer Dechert from the Madison County Mental Health Department and Kayleigh Ackerman during a job shadow experience.

Madison County Youth Bureau News

(Wampsville, NY) The Madison County Youth Bureau has been working for a number of years to increase opportunities for high school youth to explore their futures. From January 2008 to May 2011, the Youth Bureau has coordinated internship and job shadowing experiences for 92 high school students from eight Madison County school districts.

These experiences were planned in cooperation with 12 Madison County departments with a total of 50 different career tracks being explored.

Short-term exposure to career opportunities at the county level illustrates how local government functions and how the county’s systems relate across departments and into the community. Staff provide insight on the duties and skills of their positions, information on related career tracks and hands-on exposure.

Job shadowing can be completed in one day. Depending on a department’s needs, an internship may be available to students over a longer period. Internships address a need within a department that can be met through the activities of the student, providing a mutually beneficial experience.

“Many high school students have a preconceived notion of what a job is like,” said Tina Louis, MCYB youth development specialist. “They leave their shadow or intern experience with a new perception and are thankful they now understand the specific skills and responsibilities involved in a position.”

“I have found students tend to believe what they see on television, like CSI and NCIS,” said Deputy Jay Pokorny of the Madison County Sheriff’s Office. “Constant exposure to these types of shows leads people to believe that evidence can be located, collected and tested in the laboratory resulting in an arrest in an hour. I realize science has made great advances in the world of DNA collection and analysis; however, this takes time, sometimes weeks or months, to get identification results back from the lab.”

Louis said students in past job-shadowing experiences have shared that they benefitted from the experience. Some students, undecided about their futures, said the experience helped clarify the field and gave insight into the mindset and education needed to be successful.

Kayleigh Ackerman, a graduate of Canastota High School, will be a junior at LeMoyne College majoring in psychology with a concentration in childhood and special education. Ackerman completed a job shadow with Mental Health in spring 2009.

“It was a great opportunity,” Ackerman said. “It opened my eyes to the spectrum of what I could do and helped me firm up my decisions for college.”

“The best part about setting up the experience for youth is the great variety of fields there are to choose from on the county campus,” Louis said, adding career tracks range in education and skill level, allowing students to learn about jobs requiring a diploma and training, certification, two-year, four-year or advanced degrees.

The county recently adopted a policy to support county departments in facilitating job shadowing and internship opportunities for high school students. Departments interested in offering these activities now have a format to support their efforts to ensure meaningful opportunities are provided.

Shadows and internships are dependent on staff availability, and students must complete an application to be considered for participation. Students can check with their school if credit is offered for the experience and whether the school will consider the experience an excused absence.

For more information, call Louis at 366-2895.