Kelly started New Options community employment program in April 2023. After just a few weeks, Kelly has learned many things during her prevocational training. This is what she has to say.
My name is Kelly Cesare. In the New Options program, I’m learning how to get a job in the community. I do different things like watching videos or doing activities that teach me about the topic of the day. I’ve also learned a lot already, for example: hard and soft skills in business settings, how to set S.M.A.R.T. goals, Google workspace, and finding my learning style.
One of the things I like about the program is the job coaches. They encourage me to work hard to reach my goal of finding a job. They teach me different skills that will help me find one and stick with it.
One of the big goals that I’m working toward is one day working with children and being a teacher’s aide. I love kids and would love to help teach them and help in the classroom. Right now I’m taking baby steps in accomplishing this goal. To help me in this, I’ve learned what soft skills are and how they could help me work better with other people. Learning basic computer skills and understanding my learning style have helped me get that much closer to reaching my goal as well.
Something I’ve been working on a lot is how to work the Google workspace. I now know how to work with Google Sheets, Google Slides, and some of the other apps on Google. My favorite is Google Sheets. Learning Google and all the apps it has to offer helps me to be organized and allows me to be ready to get things done and gives me the ability to do so.
Two things I had to learn in order to do this program is time management and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. If I have problems not finishing tasks, the job coaches help me to find new ways to push myself and ways I can finish it. If they see me struggling to finish something I can take a break and come back to it. Communication is key when working with the job coaches and learning new skills. I have to go out of my comfort zone sometimes to voice my opinions or problems, but once I do, we’re all on the same page and I get to practice my new skills.
The advice I would give someone that wants to do this program is that it may not be easy at times and you have to work hard to get it done. You have to push yourself into learning things that you might not want to and learn how to manage your time in order to do everything you need to do in the day. However, at the end of the day it is really rewarding to finish it and see yourself get one step closer to achieving your big goal.