[February 2009]

When you try to picture a professional journalist covering important news stories and expounding on current events in his own newspaper column, a fresh-faced 17-year-old like Kent Pugh probably does not pop immediately to mind.

However, thanks to the Gateway Community Action Agency (Gateway CAA) Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Youth Program, Kent got an opportunity to try out that career last summer, working 40 hours a week for a good salary at the Menifee County News.

Kent, who is now an 18-year-old freshman at Berea College, said he values what he learned about the world of work and about himself as part of his six-week Work Experience assignment through the WIA program.

“It was a wonderful learning experience,” he said. “The deadlines were very stressful. But it was sort of fun stressful. You get to know people, make great contacts, and find out a lot of really interesting stuff.”

Work Experience is a WIA service that places young people in jobs with local businesses. WIA pays the participant’s salary for a training period, after which the employer has the opportunity to hire them full time if they like their work.

Gateway CAA delivers WIA programs in Morgan and Menifee Counties under contract with Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP). The Gateway CAA office in West Liberty is also an access point for the JobSight Network, a collaborative partnership of workforce and training agencies administered by EKCEP in 23 eastern Kentucky counties.

After WIA Career Advisor Wendy Crain-Lawson convinced the Menifee County News to add Kent to its staff, he covered a variety of topics including Berea College, developments at the Menifee County Sheriff’s office, and businesses that were struggling because of last summer’s high gas prices. It was a big step up from his earlier journalism experience as co-editor of Menifee County High School’s yearbook.

Kent was asked to stay on at the Menifee County News after his summer Work Experience assignment ended. He continued to work for the newspaper, being paid by the story, until beginning college classes in the fall. He got to explore another of his passions, politics, by writing about topics like the 2008 election in his column, “Change You Can Believe In.”

Kent admits that the title of his column, taken from one of President Barack Obama’s slogans during his 2008 campaign, gave away the fact that he an avid Barack Obama supporter. He campaigned for then-candidate Obama in Cincinnati, Ohio with a group from Berea College and waited in line at the event to shake the future president’s hand.

However, when writing his column and stories he understood that he had to try to achieve journalistic standards of objectivity and he says he worked hard to consider both sides of the issues.

Kent could not contain his enthusiasm as he talked about attending Obama’s inauguration with his aunt.

“It was sort of like seeing a social movement coming to fruition,” Kent said of watching Obama’s speech. “Everybody there was in a happy, hopeful mood.”

Kent is taking time to decide on his major, currently considering career paths in both politics and sociology. Though journalism might not be what he will eventually do for a living, he said what he has learned from working at the paper has taught him much about how to communicate with people in any job.

“I loved to write editorials and news articles and try to explain things in simple terms. It’s a journalist’s job to take these complex things and explain them in a way that everyone can understand,” he said.

Kent participated in the WIA Youth program for nearly a year, starting in November of 2007 and ending when he entered Berea in August of 2008, according to Wendy.

Wendy said she got an early indication that Kent would be a model WIA participant when he was the only student to return his enrollment paperwork the day after she gave it to him.

“He was always on time and always asking questions,” Wendy said. WIA wants participants who have a genuine desire to better themselves, work and earn new skills, she said, and Kent fit that bill well.

“I wish all of my WIA participants were like Kent,” Wendy said.

In addition to his Work Experience assignment, Kent also attended WIA workshops on topics like money management, resume preparation, job interviewing and job readiness, and took part in community service projects like crafting gift baskets for soldiers. The skills he learned there were invaluable preparation for both work and college, he said.

“I had never written a check before WIA,” Kent said. “I had never balanced a budget. I had never held a job. I was terrified about the financial aid process, but WIA helped us learn about it and scholarships in a workshop.”

As he looks ahead to a bright future, Kent said he sees WIA as an opportunity for young people to break a cycle of poverty that might have existed in their families for generations by learning how to get a good job or education.

“It takes kids that are not well off and teaches them the financial and work skills they need to succeed in the world,” he said. “I can’t thank WIA enough for what they’ve done for me.”

For more information on Workforce Investment Act services for youth available in Menifee and Morgan counties, contact Wendy Crain-Lawson at Gateway Community Action Agency at 606-743-4141 or wendy.crain@gcscap.org.