Summer is fast approaching and many high school students are looking for summer jobs to save up a little money and gain work experience. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) presents a great opportunity for this. MDOT runs a program called Youth Development and Mentoring Program (YDMP), which is an eight week long mentoring program for high school students from mid June to early August.
“The idea with this program is to expose high school students to careers within MDOT with hopes to create a diverse workforce and give students some ideas for possible careers that they might be interested in in the future,” said the director of The Youth Development and Mentoring Program Takiyah Golston.
The program provides an opportunity for self-growth, teaches life and job skills, offers college visits and teaches first aid and CPR. The starting pay for the mentoring program is $10.50 an hour and you can work up to 40 hours a week.
“Requirements include they have to be 16 years old, have at least a 2.5 GPA and fill out an online application on Michigan.gov/MDOT-YDMP,” said Golston.
On the website there’s a link taking you to the application and there, there’s an opportunity to upload your transcript and letter of recommendation.
The MDOT office opened in the Southwest region three years ago and is located at 1501 E Kilgore Rd.
“YDMP is a really great program, and I’m really hoping that we can get some Loy Norrix students to participate this year. This is the third year this program has been in this region and we’ve had one Norrix student in the past. Because our office is right up the street, it would be very easy for Loy Norrix students to take advantage of this opportunity,” said Golston.
“We mainly did different MDOT jobs. We’d go to guardrails and weed whack and leaf blow them. We went to rest stops and picked up trash and made sure they looked nice,” said senior Tihnae Bennet who participated in the YDMP program the summer of 2017. “It was good money. I used the money to buy my car.”
“Graduating seniors who have participated with the Education for Employment (EFE) program during their high school years are eligible to apply for a seven week Transportation and Civil Engineering (TRAC) summer internship. The internship exposes students to many hands-on aspects of civil engineering,” said TRAC coordinator Brenda Kragt.
“Civil engineering tools used to be utilized at Loy Norrix [by Frank Ryan] until 2014. Alexandria Williams plans to use civil engineering exercises which both incorporate engineering concepts and provide the experience necessary to qualify/apply for the internship. Ken Briggs at Kalamazoo Central High also utilizes the tools in the Education for Employment (EFE) program,” said Kragt.
Both of these programs are opportunities for students looking for job experience and who want to make some money in the meantime. All contact and additional information can easily be found on the website.