SAY's Michelle Revecho
At a recent training, I learned that the leading cause of death in the population of youth whom we serve is automobile accidents where drugs and alcohol are involved, followed by homicides, and then suicides. What do all of those youth have in common? They don’t have jobs.
At SAY, it’s my job to help young people ages 14-21 find jobs, and get on the right path. Together, we work through any barriers they may have in getting or maintaining a job. Barriers can be anything from being a teen parent, or having learning difficulties, to coming from a low income background or dropping out of school. The fact that the main commonality among all of the teens who don’t make it to adulthood is a lack of employment tells me that my work is important because it’s about helping people, saving lives, and giving young adults opportunities to stay invested in their lives and in their communities.
For teens who need help finding a job, I help by giving presentations about resume preparation and career exploration, and also coordinate GED preparation, and get teens who have dropped out hooked up with the adult school. Sometimes, I’ve even taken teens to classes to make sure that they’re getting there.
Recently, I worked with Michael, an inspirational 19 year old who had worked with us in the Summer Jobs program and had dropped out of school. Michael wanted to get his GED and we helped him prepare for taking the test, and even provided transportation to the SRJC on the days of the test. He was nervous about being on a college campus, he felt like he “wasn’t supposed to be there”. But we told him that people are at the JC for all sorts of reasons, some are taking their GED, some are learning a language, some are trying to transfer to a four year school. Michael had been preparing to take the GED for about 8 months, and we helped him prepare by first evaluating his readiness, and then targeting the specific areas where he needed help. We also helped him sign up for outside GED prep classes.
The GED is a two day test, with 3 sections the first day, and 2 sections the second. Michael was nervous going in, but before the test on the second day he said that felt a lot more comfortable. After he had finished taking the test, he said that he was so grateful for the help. He worked hard to prepare and he said that he can’t wait to say that he has his GED on his resume. He even told the other people who were there to take the test about our services, and referred another young man to us that day.
If you know of any teens in the Sonoma Valley who need help, please be like Michael and send them my way. I can be reached at (707) 996-7991 or mrevecho@saysc.org.
