Lew Wallace High School - Quill and Blade Yearbook (Gary, IN)

Page 15 text:

— — WIN CASH PRIZES “I’ve been out looking for a job but they’re hard to find in Gary. ” Anthony Felton junior cm AT or most teenagers in Gary, get- F ting jobs, earning weekly pay- checks and having cash to burn was someone else ' s dream. The unemployment scene for a majority of Gary teens was staggering 50 plus percent. In general, the job market in Gary looked anemic. Large num¬ bers of jobs simply weren ' t there anymore. Too many businesses had either moved out of town or those still here had already cut back on workers. Boarded-up and gutted build¬ ings were a depressing fact of life facing too many Gary teenagers. More and more complained that there seemed little to look forward to. I ' ve been out looking for a job for many weeks, but they ' re ver y hard to find in Gary, protested An¬ thony Felton, junior. “I finally found one, in East Chicago though. But I don ' t like it very much. Another factor in Gary ' s unem¬ ployment problem was that many teenagers don ' t know how to go about getting a job properly or didn ' t know where to go to find one. And that ' s where the Feds stepped in to help, through the fed¬ erally funded Manpower Program. This past summer, more LW stu¬ dents were able to look forward to finding a job through the Northwest Indiana Job Placement Program, funded by the county ' s Manpower Program, than ever before. I am presently involved in the Manpower Job Placement Pro¬ gram, said Bernard Taylor, junior. Its goal is to provide 30 hours of pre-job training for 244 Gary stu¬ dents and myself during the sum¬ mer. After we complete our train¬ ing, the employers who hire us are given the incentive of our working for them, but having our salaries paid by Manpower. And I think that ' s a good deal for both of us. Indiana University Northwest had become involved in the youth employment issue also. Working with the Manpower people, key University officials had begun what is called a Career Beginnings Pro¬ gram, whereby 120 Gary juniors were targeted and accepted intd a six week summer program de¬ signed for those students with high¬ er post-high school aspirations, at either a college or technical school level. Some of lUN ' s Career Begin¬ nings highlights included a mentor program whereby professionals were tapped to work as technical advisors to the 120 and then con¬ tinued to work with a select 100 during their senior years. Its job sites were carefully screened, and IUN made sure they were of a high quailty so as to broaden and to inspire students to further their education and training as well. IUN participants was paid $3.35 per hour for seven hours a day, five days a week, for six weeks. In addi¬ tion to offering an assessment pro¬ gram and job assignments, IUN asked participants to take part in University enrichment activities on its campus every week. Other youth oriented employ¬ ment programs were just on the ho¬ rizon for Gary teenagers. Some city officials seemed to have gotten the message loud and clear Gary ' s teens need jobs! Those with vision were now acknowledg¬ ing the wisdom and perhaps the linkage to their own jobs in the fu¬ ture. Subrena Ashford, senior, was one of the fortunate few who did have a job. I feel that my job is a wonderful experience because it teaches me responsibility an d of¬ fers me rewards that my parents can ' t get for me, said Subrena. Now, with my job, I can get them for myself. □reported by DiMonique Jones and perspective by Jass. AT LEFT. SELENA Walden, ' 84 grad and Burger King Asst Manager, observes a student trainee taking an order. G tnd resume COE Exc fir ' ™ ! Broctfwov, Gary, IN 752-r-rr; «N S, LPN $, NA S — Confer — runy bury p| OC , volporolso has WANTED JOBS-11

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AT TOP, MICHELLE Benton, senior, is all smiles about her new job at Domino ' s Pizza in Merrillville. Michelle, like a lot of other teens, had to find a job outside of Gary. ABOVE, KEN HOOKS, senior, has a job in Merrillville, too. at Handy Andy ' s. Ken can tell you having his job came in real handy and paid for the clothes, good times, and car he wanted. ■ ■■ ■ ■ ■ ■■ ■ —— . — — ■ Gory. IN 4 402 jr coll Sleph- .nwO OCJOte ■NTAL HYC to: BOX a a

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MODELING GINGISS FORMAL wear and passing out Prom info at the same time, seniors Michael Taylor and Tarji Lenord visit junior and senior classrooms. nemployment for Gary teens . soared to over 50 per cent compared to a national aver- age of 18.3 per cent in 1986. Many here said the City of Gary was broke and a lot of young people were packing up and leaving for more promising digs. With jobs so few, being unem¬ ployed has seriously affected me be- ause I can no longer buy the things I ant, complained Tina Mclntee, se- ior. And when parents and teens |ame down with cases of the crunch, hool organizations eventually felt the ch, too, and started running on pty. The economic pox seemed every¬ where at once. Student attendance at sporting events was anemic. Sock hops, after school dances and affairs were canceled, one after another. Even School City came down with the cheaps. HEARTFELT BALLOONS, SOLD by the Senior Honor Society as a fundraiser, decorate the desk of Tula Sakes, head secretary. Quill and Blade coffers and year¬ book sales looked sick. Staff members seemed to be working harder at trying to sell books, but the only thing that was building up was the red ink. Debt or no debt, declared Janet Sefton, Journalism II teacher and year¬ book adviser, our fundraisers had to be put on the back burners because we ' d made a solemn promise to this year ' s seniors to get out the book on time this time. There was still some hope though and even some success stories. Band, for example, proved an exception to the times. Prom sponsor Bettye Eichelberger confided, The Junior Olympics were pretty successful and a fun way to get the monies we needed for the prom. Nevertheless, the bottom line stayed the same: making money was serious business. □written by Mia DeLoach RUNNING ON 12 FUNDRAISERS