BUILDING A YELLOW BRICK ROAD
Mr. Ron Harding is a long-standing teacher aide here at DeWitt. He reminisced about one of his favorite jobs; serving as the Orientation Department Coordinator at one of the Job Corp Centers in Massachusetts.
With a supporting staff of select students called Orientation Aides, I provided complete orientation/support to each new student group entering the Job Corp Center program. With only a week for each orientation, I had a lot to do.
The best part of the job was the independence I had in administering the orientation program, and the satisfaction of using all of my resources and skills in identifying any psychological and social issues or other notable attributes students may have exhibited. This information, which I provided to the Administration and Education Departments, was extremely valuable.
The time I spent with new students during their orientations allowed me to learn a little about their histories and backgrounds. I discovered that there were many talented individuals who enrolled to complete their education, obtain a trade and/or get a driver's license. However, they had been detoured as a result of personal issues or conflicts.
Shortly after I began my job, I had three students who were great artists. I met with them and shared some ideas about changes I wanted to make to the Welcome Center and the philosophy behind those changes. My students were glad to help.
A long stairway provided entrance to the Orientation Department area. I explained that I wanted to use the characters in the all-time great story, THE WIZARD OF OZ as the motif for art display on the walls of the stairway. I wanted the staircase leading upstairs to the Welcome Center to look like a YELLOW BRICK ROAD.
The results of the art work done by these talented Corps members far exceeded my expectations. Dorothy, the Lion, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and Toto in all their magnificent splendor appeared close to life-size on the entrance way walls! When the students finished painting the stairs, the stairs did indeed resemble a YELLOW BRICK ROAD!
