Students get on the job training

Students learn self-sufficiency and career skills through hands-on training at local retail store.

By: Melissa Hayes
   Early morning customers at the Route 1 South Stop&Shop on Dec. 20 might have noticed that a group of high school students were ready to help them bagging their groceries, or were out in the parking lot collecting shopping carts.
   The students weren’t employees, they’re special education students participating in the Job Opportunities By Shadowing and Sampling program.
   "The idea is really to get these kids out in the community and try some jobs," said Londa Appignani transition and employment coordinator at South Brunswick High School.
   The high school has had a job placement program since 1982, but this is the first year the program was geared toward training students in the special education program, Ms. Appignani said.
   Ms Appignani said she has placed special education students in jobs with Stop&Shop and has been doing so since the store was Grand Union. When Grand Union closed and Stop & Shop opened, she approached store manager Jim Gardener about the JOBBS program and he liked the idea.
   Nine students participate in the program every Monday morning, collecting carts, cleaning, blocking (straightening items on the shelves) bagging and placing stickers on deli containers.
   The hands-on experience that the students receive through JOBSS is just one aspect of their life skills education.
   The students’ teacher, Nicole Pouliout, said she created the life skills program a year ago to teach the students about safety, such as what to do in case of a fire, cooking and cleaning. The students still have an academic segment each day, but the rest of the day is spent teaching them how to be self-sufficient so that one day they may be able to live on their own.
   "I set up the program last year. Each year we’re just going to expand more and more," she said.
   Ms. Pouliout prepped the students before they began at Stop&Shop by playing a grocery shopping game, teaching them where items are located in a grocery store. She also has a shelf set up in her classroom so students can practice stocking items.
   "They do tons of stuff to relate to this," she explained.
   Three of the students that go to the grocery store spend their time labeling containers for the deli department while the other students rotate stations each week.
   Ms. Pouliout said she hopes to get the three students that label each week out on the floor, and has them practice stocking in her classroom, but they need more one-on-one attention than the others.
   The students are happy to be out of the classroom learning new tasks.
   George Heras 16, was blocking the cereal aisle on Monday. He enjoys working in the aisles and said his favorite thing about the on-site job training is "helping the customers."
   Even though he was straightening cereal boxes this week, he was glad to pause and direct a customer searching for hot chocolate mix.
   Heather Linsell, 16, was alongside George on the cereal aisle, but she was not as thrilled to be there as he was.
   "I like to go outside," she said, adding that one of her favorite tasks is collecting shopping carts.
   Heather also likes to bag groceries for customers.
   "You don’t get to put stuff in the bags when you’re in the aisle," she said.
   Ms. Pouliout said the partnership with Stop&Shop is really great for the students.
   "It’s a great learning experience for them and it gets them out into the community," she said.