Port Clinton – Clyde High School Alumni of 2007 are helping Port Clinton High School students find their individual paths to career success.
Blayze Behney is a Career Based Intervention (CBI) Specialist and Career Coach at Port Clinton High School, an educational institution that prepares students for adulthood with the tools they need to pursue promising careers. Putting him in the center of the spokes.
No day is the same as Behney helps students discover career options and recognize their strengths and preferences. Through his many programs, he helps students find the best career path for them. That includes an immediate jump into college, professional training, or the job market after high school.
“My demographic is very diverse,” says Behney. “Some of my students will be bosses and will be in high positions. Some people will get blue-collar jobs because they don’t want to go to college. I would climb the ladder a different way.”
Career classes for seniors who do not go to college
Behney teaches a CBI class for out-of-college seniors. This class allows students to learn about viable career options and learn life skills such as how to apply for a credit card and how to choose between renting or buying a home.
Behney also leads the school’s CEO program, offered through a partnership with the Ottawa County Business Advisory Board. This program provides job shadowing and internship opportunities for seniors. She has seven students doing internships with local organizations, including the Port Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. These experiences help students discover what they like and dislike in different career fields.
“Finding what you don’t like is just as important. You don’t want to spend money on college for things you don’t like,” Behney said.
Behney administers YouScience assessments to students that match their skills and strengths to career suggestions.
“They take the test and I help them interpret it,” Behny said. “Three weeks ago, she took 23 students on a logistics excursion.”
Behney also helps seniors jump-start their success by enrolling in the Ottawa County Skilled Trade Academy, a program of the Ottawa County Improvement Corporation, to learn skills and earn certifications. The academy serves seniors who did not choose to attend vocational school early in their high school career but wish to seek employment in skilled occupations. technical intern trainees and 24 nationally tested Nursing Assistant (STNA) students.
Undecided seniors can enter the trade academy
For senior Gracie Lawler, the Ottawa County Vocational Academy has changed the course of her future.
Rohrer was undecided about her career at the beginning of the school year, but was interested in nursing. She enrolled in the academy’s STNA program as a way to find out if she wanted to work in the medical field.
She has found that she loves it.
“I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with my life, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to college, so I tried it out to see if that was what I wanted to do,” Lawler said. “I want to go to college to become a nurse.”
Rohrer’s decisions were influenced by the “people she met” and the skills she learned in the clinical setting.
“Helping residents was a big thing. My teacher explained the different areas you could go in,” Rohrer said. “It just turned everything around.”
To further help students find jobs, Benny encourages local businesses to host lunch and learning sessions at schools. Businesses can set up employment information tables in their lunchrooms, or host individual lunchtime presentations in school conference rooms.
To find out more about job shadowing and internship opportunities for students, or to schedule a lunch and learning event, please contact Blayze Behney at bbehney@pccsd-k12.net or 419-734-2147.
Contact Correspondent Sheri Trusty sheritrusty4@gmail.com.