“Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” - Anne Frank, Holocaust victim.
Attitude. Attendance. Appearance. Ambition. Accountability. Acceptance. Appreciation. All seven work ethics will be taken up and taught to every Montezuma-Cortez High School student this year.
“The goal is to help provide the community with a workforce that is badly needed,” said Ed Rice, M-CHS director of career and technical education.
More than a dozen community members attended a training session with M-CHS teachers on Monday, Aug. 18, to learn how the Bring Your A-Game to Work curriculum could enhance students’ work ethic skills. Teachers and mentors learned that three out of four employers perceive that high school graduates lack a proper work ethic.
“On average, parents today spend about 15 minutes per week engaging with meaningful conversation with their children,” said Rice. “This is why schools, across the nation, have to teach students these skills.”
The Bring You’re A-Game to Work curriculum and training program aims to help students understand the foundational values and behaviors of work ethic. Participants learn lessons about how to be reliable, professional, take initiative, be positive, respect authority and have integrity, which can exponentially increase their potential.
Developed by the Denver-based Center for Work Ethic Development’s, the program supplements students’ education and lessons taught in the home to ensure they not only have the skills that employers seek, but the values that make them invaluable.
Community mentors, including a number of young professionals in the Cortez Chamber of Commerce, have volunteered to team up with teachers to help launch the initiative.
Mentor Kinsey Ertel of the Ertel Funeral Home says school officials and community members have an obligation to help young people who may fall through the cracks in society.
“If we can help teach valuable life skills to just one child, then the program will be worthwhile,” she said.
Ertel said she volunteered after witnessing a number of young people who were not equipped with the professional skills that employers expect.
“A lot of young people don’t understand the commitment that a job requires,” she said.
City Manager Shane Hale agreed, citing he wanted to help offer practical advice to the community’s future labor force.
“It’s important to both the community and the kids,” he said.
Educators from across the state have praised the program and its success in teaching high school students how to prepare for life after high school.
“The activities in the A-Game curriculum were fun and relevant for the students,” said Arvada High School educator Gary Tenhulzen. “It’s the best investment in curriculum I’ve made.”
In its inaugural year, the program aims to reach every M-CHS student. Rice hopes the new curriculum can help the school meet its objective to ensure every student is postsecondary and workforce ready after graduation.
One teacher questioned what kind of work ethic example was being shown to M-CHS students when classes don’t start until 9 a.m.
“Most everyone has to be at work earlier than that,” the teacher said. “We’re enabling them not to be work ready.”
tbaker@cortezjournal.com
