Barren County students receive money for work in workforce participation program

BARREN COUNTY, Ky. – Barren County High School students are going back to school this week after the winter break, and some of them were greeted with a very welcome sight.

The South Central Workforce Development Board presented 17 Barren County High School students with bonus checks after completing a work-based learning placement and meeting eligibility requirements. These students are part of the ‘Putting Young Kentuckians to Work’ workforce participation program, where upperclassmen can find and work at a job as part of their educational experience.

“Our work-based learning program is extremely robust. We’re proud of it. It’s a big animal to build up and to maintain, but it provides our students opportunities to get out and to experience the workforce at a younger age, to get them engaged in the community, to get them contributing to the community and to really show what it is that when they exit, they are life ready, and becoming life ready is, that’s the mission of Barren County Schools,” said Justin Browning, CTE and Innovation coordinator for Barren County Schools.

While a part of this program, these kids will work real jobs in the community, earning their own paychecks and learning how to navigate life and the workforce. But while that bonus check of $250 is great, these kids are gaining real life skills to better prepare themselves for life after school.

“I feel like social skills, it does create a lot of social skills, department and it does create a lot of customer service skills. I feel like in small businesses, it does marketing. I mean, you learn everything about saving financials, everything about, you know, making money in the small business. I feel like you learn a lot about, like, a lot of stuff that I do not know about financials in a small business, I would not know about here because I get to see it,” said Allison Maples, a senior at Barren County High School.

In total, the goal is to have the around 200 students in the program work around 40,000 hours and earn over $500,000 in income while providing lessons in skills beneficial to the next chapter in life. The South Central Workforce Development Board also offers this opportunity for an extra pay check to other students in the BRADD area aged 16-24.