Work Study Students Delivering More than Supplies

A small — but mighty — crew of Avon High School students is making a big impact. 

If you've ever looked out your front window in anticipation of the delivery person arriving with a much-anticipated package, you know how Avon teachers feel when the smiling, yellow-coated Avon High School Work Study crew arrives with supplies from the Avon Education Foundation Supply Our Schools (SOS) Store.

"Our SOS Store has been officially open for almost one month and already 117 teachers have submitted requests for supplies," says AEF Director Jayda Sommers. "The goal of the store is to prevent teachers from having to spend their own money on basic classroom needs. But the store does more than that, it also teaches valuable life and job skills to our Avon High School Work Study students."

Dozens of special education students are involved in the Work Study program each year. "[We are] once again privileged to partner with AEF as an ongoing service-learning project and community teaching platform for our students learning valuable job skills," says Transition Coordinator Kimberly Lobosky. "By providing a friendly, structured environment that emulates that of a warehouse distribution center, interns are able to develop a myriad of applicable real-world skills, such as problem solving, time management, and socialization that increase potential for future employment."

Although Work Study students serve at a wide variety of community locations, the SOS Store is an especially rewarding assignment for both the students in the program and the beneficiaries of their hard work — our teachers. According to Lobosky, interns and job coaches completed deliveries to teachers at each of the corporation's schools during the first four weeks of school.

The future of the AEF-Work Study partnership is bright and the impact is growing. "Job coaches and interns continue to be grateful for the partnership of the AEF board and look forward to prospects of bringing a new level of customer service to the teachers and staff of Avon Community Schools," says Lobosky.

Sommers adds, "If you see this hard-working crew making a delivery at a school near you, be sure to give them a big thumbs up."

The SOS Store is always accepting school supply donations at the Avon Administration Center (7203 East US Highway 36) from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm on weekdays.