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    PHOTO BY TOM GORDON Wimberley high School teacher Stephanie Breedyk has watched the Practicum job-training program grow in the two years she has been in charge.
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    PHOTO BY TOM GORDON Workplace photos line the walls of the Practicum classroom at Wimberley High.
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    PHOTO BY TOM GORDON Wimberley High student Tony Guel works at a computer technician-in-training at Wimberley Mac.

WHS students are learning hands-on

Stephanie Breedyk is a teacher at Wimberley High School. Her classroom is the real world.

Stephanie is in charge of the two-year-old Practicum program at WHS. Simply, Stephanie places students in area businesses where they earn credits and learn what it’s like to work in a field in which they are interested.

This year 69 students have been working at local businesses. They have been placed at pharmacies, nursing homes, computer repair shops, a judge’s office and construction companies.

The students are learning a variety of skills. “We don’t want these kids out there pushing brooms,” explains Stephanie. “We want them to get something out of it.”

The owners of Wimberley Mac, for example, has his student interns repairing computers and, by the time they finish the Practicum program, they will have taken the test to become authorized Apple repair technicians.

The Practicum program started at WHS two years ago. Stephanie was hired from Lehman High School in Kyle to launch the program here.

Stephanie is a graduate of Lubbock Christian University. “I have worked in sales and marketing and I have worked in education,” she says. “This job (the Practicum) is the perfect mesh for me.”

Gaining in popularity

The program is becoming more popular. Next year, 91 students have expressed an interest in working outside the classroom.

It takes a commitment to join the program. Students are expected to take classes that complement their Practicum jobs. If a student decides they want to work in the health-care field they not only have to study biology and chemistry, but take a course in medical careers.

The health science course is the most requested. This year, 30 students have been placed with dentists, nursing homes, chiropractors, rehab and physical therapy and even a hospital in New Braunfels.

All 69 students in the Practicum program this year were placed in jobs within the first five days of the school year.

“Wimberley has been fantastic with opening up their doors and accepting these students,” says Stephanie.

The students receive no pay and normally work about 10 hours a week. They get two school credits for the course and have to line up the positions themselves.

The students are expected to get to work on time and dress appropriately. They have to arrange for their own transportation to and from the job.

Here comes the judge

Stephanie tells the story of one student who suggested a day-care job “because it was easy.” The Practicum program is not about easy.

After some probing, Stephanie discovered the student was interested in criminal justice. She reached out to local Judge Andrew Cable who embraced the idea. The first day, the student showed up in torn jeans so her first lesson was in courtroom decorum. Since then, the student has become a model worker with solid attendance and a business-like appearance.

“Judge Cable was great,” says Stephanie. “He taught a lot.”

Of course, not all high school students know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Sometimes the Practicum program convinces the students that they don’t want to work a particular job.

The students are expected to line up their own positions and about 85 percent of the kids in the programs know the people they will be working for — mostly family and friends. “It’s that connection that they bring to the table,” says Stephanie.

The Wimberley Chamber of Commerce has also helped find jobs. The positions fall into nine basic categories — from agriculture to engineering to marketing — but if a student asks to do something out of the ordinary, Stephanie is usually open.

She does a face-to-face interview with potential employers and checks in with each employer — she calls them “sponsors” — at least once every six weeks. The sponsors are given a form to turn in that will help determine the student’s grade.

Attendance is key. Only one student has been bounced from the program in the last two years and that was because he didn’t show up for work. There’s another key rule: no cell phones.

Students are graded on cooperation, initiative, courtesy, attitude, knowledge of duties, work habits, adaptability and personal appearance.

A job in a doctor’s or an architect’s office tends to be tidy. A construction job, maybe, less so. Stephanie placed two young ladies with the non-profit WAG animal-rescue group in town. After tending to the kennels and the animals, the girls definitively needed to clean up before returning to school. “They are just filthy,” laughs Stephanie. “I told them they deserve an award for giving 110 percent.”

But both students love their duties with WAG and one will, more or less, take over the program this summer while the director is on vacation.

In addition to the experience the students get, Stephanie counsels them on workplace etiquette, helps with resumes, and writes letters of recommendation.

“We are getting them either ready for a career or for college,” says Stephanie. “No matter what, if they are there and participate, they are going to get a lot out of this program.”

Wimberley View

P.O. Box 49
Wimberley, TX 78676
Phone: 512-847-2202
Fax: 512-847-9054