Many students in Ville Platte are hard at work this summer.
The city’s youth employment program is now teaching high schoolers life and workforce skills in preparation of the future careers.
Chandler Vidrine is a 16-year-old high school student who is a summer worker at the Evangeline Parish Courthouse. He says this program has helped him decide on his future career. “I’ve learned the different types of courts that they have and the filing system that you usually do in a courtroom. I’ve got it down packed right now.” He aspires to be a nurse attorney.
The employment program is made up of 24 students in the Ville Platte area. The program has been in place for a while, but Mayor Jennifer Vidrine expanded it this year. She says the students are working at 16 different local businesses. “I get employers telling me every day saying Jennifer, your children are so good and they’re so polite. They’re saying yes ma’am, no ma’am and they’re on time. They know how to work and they’re willing to work and that’s what we want to do. We want to make sure that they walk away from this program with a great work ethic.”
Vidrine says the students are paid workers at their jobs. In addition to hands-on experience in the workforce, students are also learning life skills such as sewing and cooking.
Suzy Lemoine is the Evangeline Parish Library Outreach Coordinator who oversees Allen Poullard (16). Lemoine says she’s proud to see how far the program has come. “It has grown into not just skills building, but character building. They’re in the workforce in the morning and in a learning environment in the afternoon.”
Students, Poullard and Roslyn Anderson, say they have both learned a lot in the past month.
“It shows me what it’s like to be in the actual workforce so when I’m actually getting a job I’ll be ready and prepared for it,” says Poullard.
“It’s teaching me work ethic and a lot of responsibility, manners, everything,” says Anderson.
Mayor Vidrine says her goal is to one day have a summer worker in every business in the city.
