‘You see their confidence:’ City of Salisbury providing youth with work experience with summer program

SALISBURY, Md.- “Working on stuff that I don’t really get to work on. Like sometimes I go with my dad to do mechanic stuff but it’s not as in-depth as when I’m here,” Wicomico High School Junior Kaden Hull said.

Kaden Hull has dreams of becoming a mechanic. A local garage is his second home for eight weeks, helping crews work on various vehicles for the city of Salisbury. “Trash trucks will come up and we have to fix the hydraulics leaks. Like every day we have to fix the hydraulics leaks,” Hull said.

He’s one of 12 students a part of the City of Salisbury’s Summer Youth Workforce Program. Program Coordinator Robert Reed says it’s an opportunity for local high school students to maintain jobs throughout several departments to gain real-world experience. “Whether that’s around our guest services department or if not working as an administrator or whatever, we want to be able to equip them and sit them down in a position they’ll ultimately enjoy,” Reed said.

As for Bennett High School Senior Cole Lane, he’s working alongside the Carpentry department assisting with a variety of projects. It’s Lane’s second year in the program and he tells us the experience has given him a sense of direction. “Getting to work hands on with people who’ve been doing this for years has really helped shape what I want to do and how I want to be,” Lane said.

Junior Achievement of the Eastern Shore is also a program partner, providing training on job readiness and professional development.

Reed says students aren’t just getting familiar with the city or their roles, but they get to feel connected to something. “You see the confidence and you see the professional development start to occur because there’s small things that they’re being made aware of about themselves and what they’re learning about themselves in this process,” Reed said.

Several students have gone onto full-time jobs with the city. The city also offers tuition assistance to full time employee which students can take advantage of.

The program is expanding and taking on two additional students. That’s thanks to recent grant funding from the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore.

The program will wrap up this summer in early August.

To find out more about the program, click here