Ken Stickney: Mock interviews, real people
Published 10:22 am Thursday, February 21, 2019
Opinion
NEDERLAND — This emerging generation of high school graduates might dismay you as they struggle with coming of age. Who hasn’t lamented teenagers, who struggle with “growing-up” problems like dealing with relationships, finding direction, building relationships and more. Such frustrations date back to the ancients.
I struggled in exasperation with my own four kids. My parents struggled with it over me. Roll your eyes if you’ve been there yourself.
Where will we ever find people to carry on the traditions and responsibilities of our world, our nation, our communities, our families?
Try Nederland High.
That’s where I went Wednesday to participate in mock work interviews with some 300 seniors who’ve wended their way through high school and are seeking additional direction for their futures through Career and Technology courses offered there. I was one of many local people who did practice interviews in the library with students and rated their performances.
What I found sitting across from me for perhaps a dozen interviews over three hours were wholly likeable, capable, fun and genuine people. I ran my interviews far too long — five minutes is what program director Bill Jardell had recommended — but I suspect I liked the kids too much to let them go.
I met near graduates who’ve found some direction and have real career plans. Some have been accepted into appropriate college or training programs and some are still weighing their options. I empathized with the latter; I spent more than two years after high school weighing mine before starting college.
On Wednesday, I found myself writing words like “engaging” and “likeable” and “thoughtful” on my reviews. Some of the students were supremely prepared, with lofty test scores and superb grades. Others lag behind a bit, struggling as they consider some life paths and — this is just as important — discard others.
They wanted to be doctors and communicators and electricians and soldiers and police officers. But in considering their choices, they offered plausible, sometimes personal reasons for making them: They wanted to emulate their parents, or avoid their parents’ mistakes, or follow longstanding career passions, or pursue interests more recently developed.
Many want to test themselves mentally, physically, emotionally. They’ve pursued powerlifting and run marathons and dragged themselves out of bed to train with Marines. A few are not quite there with their choices — Business or engineering? Literature or math? — but who’s to say they won’t succeed at one or another or all of them.
I wrote this word down, too, more than once: “Candid.”
Some of these young people have dealt with real hurts and scars: problem parents and deaths in the family and illness and divorce. And yet they move along with no small sense of resiliency, with good intentions and stiff upper lips.
For heroes, some cited parents or grandparents or other role models who have given them some light and hope in their lives. It made me grateful for people who had lent these soon-to-be graduates some time and guidance, which was well spent.
Jardell said the Career and Technology program has grown over the years at Nederland. In some cases, it helps students into mentoring situations or into part-time work related to their interests.
That can create unexpected challenges, too, like keeping in touch with friends and pursuing extra-curriculars while leaving school early many days to work for four or more hours. You can’t do it all, they are learning. But they can do a lot.
“Why can’t they be like we were, perfect in every way?” That’s what Mr. MacAfee sings about young people in “Bye, Bye, Birdie,” which I saw on the big screen in the 1960s.
Truth is, we were never perfect. Nor are today’s young people. But those I met Wednesday were pretty darn good — charming and hopeful — and I left the library feeling lucky in my companionship that morning. And more confident for the future.
Ken Stickney is editor of The Port Arthur News.