No Boxing Gloves Necessary for KAPOW Program

By Evan Williams

At Homestead Job Corps Center, Dr. Katia Puente, dentist, and Lucilda Charles, wellness manager, explain to elementary students from the KAPOW program what it takes to work as a dentist. Fifth graders from Coconut Palm K-8 Center visited the center to learn about the connection between education and work.

(Homestead, FL) The KAPOW program may sound like a boxing club, but it’s actually a program for fifth graders created to show them the link between education and work.

Homestead Job Corps Center, a ResCare operation, recently helped the program with that goal. Thirty students from Coconut Palm K-8 Center visited the center as part of a year-long program organized by Kids and the Power of Work (KAPOW), a program of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Specialized Programs – Schools of Choice.

Jessica Hogan, a student at Homestead Job Corps who is training to be a nursing assistant, was one of the Job Corps students who talked to the youngsters.

“My weakness is children,” Ms. Hogan exclaimed. “If I can tell them about our field and get them to pursue it, that is great. I told them to stay in school no matter what and to be positive. We gave them some hands-on experience and I think they enjoyed it.”

Lesly Diaz, business and community liaison at the center, has been volunteering with KAPOW for two years and was recently presented with a Gold Award for her service.

“The KAPOW program is extremely beneficial,” Ms. Diaz said. “It ties in what they are learning in school to what they can do with it in the work world. They also learn employability skills such as appearance, attitude and overcoming biases. It gives them a realistic view of the work world from the perspective of an adult who has been where they are. I believe that both the students and their teachers had a great time learning about the Homestead Job Corps Center and what our students and staff do every day.”

The children learned about fourteen different trades in the Career Technical Training building. At SIATech Charter High School, located at the Homestead Job Corps Center, the fifth graders got some hands-on time with computer technology and animation. They also visited the on-site dental clinic.

Ms. Diaz said that “Cross Curriculum Connections” contained in each KAPOW lesson help teachers integrate KAPOW lesson concepts into areas such as reading, math, science, social science, writing, art and technology. An example she gave was “How Far Would You Go?,” where students use national classified ads, geography and math skills to estimate the distance and travel times from their homes to the jobs of their choice.

Each department had a representative welcome the youngsters and they were able to spend time talking with Job Corps students and teachers. The children asked the instructors questions like, “What skills are necessary to do your job?” and “Why do you like your job?”

The children weren’t the only ones who benefited from their time at the center.

“It was pretty cool,” Ms. Hogan said. “For me, it’s all about children. I gained happiness from that, from teaching them about my field.”

To learn more about the Job Corps program, please go to the Job Corps web page.