GLASGOW — Four seniors at Glasgow High School will have a little extra work experience to draw upon after they graduate on Friday and enter the job market.

The students have completed a two-year program that allowed them to job shadow and co-op at local businesses, such as Lowe’s, Houchen’s Market and T.J. Samson Community Hospital Day Care.

Breon Alexander, Araina Cain, Thomas Dumolt and Matthew Lohner will take the skills they learned and apply them to work in the real world.

Sandy Hall, GHS student employment coordinator, began the Community Based Work Transition Program last year with “little or outdated material and limited funding.”

The program for high school juniors and seniors is designed to improve academic achievement and reduce the dropout rate, Hall said.

Based on a student’s individual needs, the program takes into account each participant’s strengths, preferences and interests and provides a transition from school to work.

The main goal of the program is student employment upon graduation. Two of the students are currently employed and Hall is working to find jobs for the other two, she said.

Breon Alexander, one of the seniors, has been co-oping and job shadowing at Happy Valley Houchen’s Market since August. He plans to go into construction one day, maybe as a brick mason, and hopes to get a job at Lowe’s after graduation, he said. His experience has helped him learn what it takes to find employment.

“I learned how to stock, carry out and help people with their groceries,” he said. “I learned how to have manners and say ‘thank you for coming and come back.’”

Alexander also learned if he was courteous to people sometimes it would mean a tip for his good service.

The senior is also learning about giving to the community while gaining experience. Last summer he worked with other Glasgow Baptist Church members on a Habitat for Humanity House on Myrtle Street.

“Breon has come a long way about being responsible,” Hall said.

Another student, Thomas Lohner, will also graduate this week. He has been employed at Lowe’s for more than a year.

“He is a model employee and will work full-time upon graduation,” Hall said.

The majority of the funding for the program, approximately 75 percent, comes from the Kentucky Office of Rehabilitation. The other 25 percent is paid by the school board.

This year the program was the recipient of an Alline Reneau Grant for special needs students in the amount of $15,681. Hall used the money to purchase items for career exploration technology and research including $12,000 for laptop computers and $2,839 for books and other printed materials for occupation discovery.

The materials and software teach the students how to dress for an interview, how to act in a work environment and how to prepare a resume.

“We were very excited and thankful to be the recipient of this money,” Hall said. She plans to reapply for the grant next year as well.

A major benefit of the program that was established in 1984 and has 84 counties that take advantage of the funding is that it provides one-on-one time with each student, she said. This allows evaluation of home life, personal needs, interests and abilities.

“The Community Based Work Transition Program is very unique because its focus is on the student’s strengths, interests and abilities, not just placing them in a job. It includes instruction, experience, vocational evaluation and employment,” Hall said. “A lot of time is invested in evaluating students for career planning

“Our goal is for all participating students to have positive employment outcome upon graduation. This will benefit the student long after leaving high school. It will provide challenging work experiences while maintaining employment. We hope the excitement of the new experiences of this program will generate interest in academic achievement.”

The program teaches the students simple things one wouldn’t even think about such as how to talk to people in a job situation.

“A lot of the students are not used to working with the public and they have learned so much this year about how to interact with customers and the responsibility of having a job and knowing what’s expected of them,” Hall said. “It opens the door for them to experience for themselves how it’s like to work at a certain business.

Eight students were involved in the program this year. Hall said she will have 10 next year.

“Our program makes a difference. We try to find a job that fits the student. When they graduate, hopefully we can help them find a job in that field,” she said.

Hall will miss her first four students to complete the program, she said.