Student Spotlight: WORK Program
From left to right, pictured are WORK Program team members Madelyn, Danica, Kendall and Leo.
A few months ago, Startland traveled to Moberly, Missouri to offer one of our signature MECA Challenges. In line with our passion for human-centered design, high school students worked together to solve a real issue affecting their community: labor shortages.
After doing some empathy work, Leo, Kendall, Danica and Madelyn figured that the issue affecting students from seeking needed jobs is the cost of higher education. Together, they created the “WORK Program” – a scholarship fund that high school students working part-time can deposit a portion of their paycheck to, and get matched by their employer upon graduation. We took some time to talk more about their novel idea with them below.
Blog Post
Interested in learning more about this MECA Challenge? Read our blog about it below!
Nasir: Okay, so first question, can you all tell me a little bit more about your project?
Kendall: We were tasked to come up with a problem or a way to solve local employment in small businesses, especially for first-time employees like high schoolers. The way we did that is the WORK Program – which is a way that local businesses can partner with local government, colleges and other larger businesses to provide money for high school employees to go into a scholarship fund. So that's the incentive of joining: you get paid your hourly pay, you put aside part of your paycheck, and then it gets matched by the partners.
Nasir: This is really cool. Why do you think it's important for students, or young people in general, to get involved in issues like this?
Leo: I think it helps us as a community. If we didn’t have any workers here, there would be no community. Also, students can learn more in the real-world than just school. Employment teaches lessons like being punctual, professional, how to interview, write resumes. All that stuff is all important for your later life.
Nasir: Speaking of, how did you incorporate empathy and human-centered design into your projects?
Danica: Students are really worried about how they're gonna pay for college, especially in rural areas because there's less funding and a high wealth gap. So we focused on students who are stressed about paying for college and who question if they can even afford higher education after high school.
Kendall: Yeah, rural Missouri areas have a lot of low income families. So usually a lot of options for students in our area are just to go to a three, two-year college and get an Associate's Degree. We’re not really primed to go to a four-year university and get a Bachelor's. So our hope through this is that students feel more comfortable taking that next step – whether they be a first generation college student or just a student trying to figure out a way to make themselves better.
Nasir: This is extremely important work you all are doing for your community and deserves to be heard. How do you think the youth voice can be amplified more in your communities?
Madelyn: I think there’s a lot of easy ways for adults to help, like helping us fill out job applications, prepping for interviews, being more proactive about things like this. That’s all important so that we’re not just going out in the world like a newborn baby. We actually know how to do stuff.
Kendall: Yeah, I think it's all about providing opportunities and experience to gain a voice. As younger people, you know, you've always feel like you just need to listen to what the adults say. But a lot of times, teenagers have a lot to offer whenever it comes down to what's happening today, what's happening in our schools, and what's happening in our community. Luckily, we’re fortunate enough to have actually been invited to school board meetings to come and talk about what student life is like. I think other schools having that same opportunity for students to be heard in front of your county and local officials is really important.
To find out more about Startland educational programming and how to get involved, click here.
