Teaching Amanda How to Use the Stamper
On May 1, The Arc participated in the 6th Annual Career Exploration Day. Career Exploration Day is a half-day job shadowing opportunity for high school students with disabilities. Local government and businesses employees serve as mentors for young people who have expressed an interest in specific types of work. Career Exploration Day is a joint project of the Howard County Public School System, Columbia Workforce Center, Howard County Government Department of Citizen Services, The Office of Workforce Development, and the Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services.
Marriotts Ridge High School student Amanda shadowed me in my administrative job. When she arrived at The Arc, I recognized her from Special Olympics. My Job Coach Bonnie Cronin and I gave her a tour of the building. We introduced her to some of my co-workers. It was Document Day, the first of the month where staff both here at the office and in our homes, turn in paperwork. I gave her the task to stamp the papers so I could record and file them. Let me tell you she LOVED to use the date stamper. She had a lot of fun with it!
Bonnie checked in with us throughout the day to see how everything was going. We told her everything was going well. Bonnie and I told Amanda what job qualifications you will need in an administrative job, particularly if you were working with children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A few things we told her she would need is at least a high school diploma and, for some jobs, a degree from college. Also, you would need a lot of patience and an attitude of respect for everyone. We explained some of the skills that you would need such as being able to use a computer and math and typing skills. I then explained to her that once a month and every Friday, I do the checks. After we finished that task, we had a snack and then Amanda took a break to walk around the building. She saw some of her former classmates from Marriotts Ridge High School and friends from Special Olympics. She was very happy to see her friends. As it was getting close to the end of the day, we gave her a goody bag with fun things from The Arc. It included a t-shirt, pen, notepads, hand sanitizer and lip balm. We chatted for a little bit with Bonnie and Julie Humble who is a Job Developer. Then her ride came and Bonnie walked her out. It was a great day!
What I liked about having Amanda shadow me was being able to share with her the knowledge and the skills it takes to have a job like this. I think the day went well. It was nice to have Amanda helping me out that day. Before she left, she gave me her email address so that we can send her the photos that were taken while she was here.
It was a great day! We hope to participate in this next year and in years to come!
