I. Reading. Read the following article from the Berkshire Eagle.
Yesterday was a day that might change lives. At least
three young Pittsfield men hope so.Derek Knockless, Terrell Davies and Dan
Karpinski each have different, complex stories of where they've been in life,
but all three stepped up yesterday to change where they are going.Instead of
sitting at home and hanging out like they said they tend to do, they decided to
check out a new initiative called Project Reconnect.Partly a job fair, partly a
crash course in career preparation, the two-day event is designed to re-engage
youths who have either dropped out of high school or have recently graduated ‹
to get them to continue and further their education or get on track for a
career.
The Berkshire Country Regional Employment Board
collaborated with the Juvenile Resource Center and BerkshireWorks to sponsor
the event, which continues today at the Boys and Girls Club of Pittsfield's
Lighthouse from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m."Just in Pittsfield alone, close to 900
youths have dropped out since 2003," said Heather Shogry, youth director
of the BCREB. About that many
invitations were sent out to known at-risk students and dropouts in the county.
Dan Karpinski, 18, said he had been looking forward to the
event. "I know I've got to get a job," he said, noting that he was
going to fill out a résumé at the event. Karpinski earned his GED and hopes to
enroll at Berkshire Community College.
Today, there will be almost 30 employers at the event,
several of whom are looking to hire on the spot. Yesterday's activities allowed
young men and women to walk in, meet one-on-one with a counselor, write
résumés, and attend workshops on topics like how to prepare for an interview
and how to "dress for success." The three young men went to a
workshop led by Army Sgt. Fredrick M. Parody, who gave them pointers on how to
research a company, how to present themselves during an interview, and how to
look for education benefits.
"It made me think about how I've got to do something
with my life," said Knockless, 18, who has one class left to finish high
school. Upon hearing about the event from a family member, Davies, 19, said,
"It made me get off the couch." The 19-year-old did not finish high
school and said he was looking for some direction, namely a job. Davies said he
also felt that there is not enough support in Pittsfield and not enough
programs like Project Reconnect to help young people succeed in Berkshire
County. Jim Ciullo, a youth
consultant for the BCREB, said the event is one of what he hopes to be many new
programs to come to the aid of youths through a larger initiative called
Pathway-21.
Ciullo said the program recently got a grant to develop an
on-the-job mentoring program, which would foster a young worker through a paid
mentorship and end with full-time employment after a certain time period.
II> Answer the following questions.