Job recruits at Eisenhower get paid in gift certificates

Job listings were posted this week at Eisenhower Junior High School in Hoffman Estates, but not for faculty or staff positions. These jobs recruited students. Seventh- and eighth-graders need only apply.

And believe it or not, they pay.

Expected openings include filing positions in the main office, as well as organizational and creative openings in various academic departments, including working on the school's Web site. There's even a new position in the maintenance department helping with grounds work after school.

However, the one job that draws the most interest - and pays the most - is tutoring.

Students can apply to work with their peers, during their lunch hour or after school at Eisenhower, or they can put in to help incoming students at one of the five feeder schools, in Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54.

Compensation comes in the form of gift certificates and not cash, however, students track their hours and submit invoices just the same.

The jobs offered at Eisenhower are part of a new initiative started last year, called "Earn & Learn," designed by the school's guidance counselors.

In fact, it was the first so-called "super grant" awarded by the Schaumburg Township Elementary School Foundation, whose members applauded its schoolwide approach in addressing the five dimensions of social skills, including: interpersonal skills, self-management, academics, compliance and assertion.

Applying for jobs, including interviewing, working with a team, and holding down a job, comprised the "earn" aspect of the program, says counselor Elizabeth Knief.

Some of the other components included working with incoming sixth-graders on learning junior high social skills, from making new friends, to homework expectations. Another component reached out to parents, in group sessions led by counselors that covered their concerns on top issues such as discipline, curfew, and consequences.

However, the success of the tutoring club, Knief says, was an unexpected benefit.

Last year, tutors at Eisenhower worked in traditional subjects, including math, language arts and science. They also helped with homework assignments, and sometimes just served as a much needed buddy for a student.

Their success spilled over to the feeder schools, whose administrators asked if they could hire tutors.

What started with fifth- and sixth-graders at John Muir Literacy Academy, this year will extend to MacArthur and Armstrong schools, all in Hoffman Estates, and Churchill Elementary School in Schaumburg.

As it turns out, Eisenhower is one of District 54's "no excuses" schools. In other words, officials there say every student can succeed and that they expect every one of them to be college bound.

Having good social skills goes hand in hand with that commitment, they say.

"All of the social skills we address fall within the standards for social and emotional learning set up by the state of Illinois," Knief adds. "Basically, these are communication skills they need for life."