Professional Development: Week 3

Hello! Welcome back to another week of fun and excitement at DCRA.  As program coordinators Ms. Kristina Swann and Ms. Tania Williams informed you the first week, we’ll have a host of professional development sessions for you to participate in this summer.

This week, there are two sessions, but only one is mandatory.  If  you haven’t touched base with your supervisor or coordinator to let them know which sessions you’d like to attend, or if you’d like to make a change do so as quickly as possible.  This week’s sessions are:

Mandatory
Understanding Government Structure and Operations
9:15am to 10:30am, 2nd Floor Hearing Room
Wednesday, July 14th

DCRA Executive Panel Discussion
10:30am to 12:00pm, 4th Floor Emergency Operations Center
Friday, July 16th

Two weeks in!

Leah Britton

Hi! My name is Leah Britton. Today, my colleague and I Jason  Bonds interviewed some of the 2010 Summer Youth Employees. On our adventure we came across alot of different people but one that stood out to us the most was a veteran DCRA Summer Youth  employee in the Zoning/Structual department, he looked like he was  really having a blast ,and he was. Because of the major differences and changes that were made, like the new building and the new way things were being managed He told us that he was enjoying working this year a whole lot more than last year. After leaving there we made our way to the Office of Information Systems to find more summer youth workers. After a bit of looking  and searching around we managed to find a group of workers Their ages ranged from 14 to 20,  one thing they all agreed on was that  they all enjoyed their jobs. They loved  the work they were  being  giving  and the lessons that they were being taught while having fun.

– Leah Britton

Getting to know Co-Workers

Charday Green

Today is the first day of the District’s Department of Consumer & Regulatory Affairs summer youth employment program. We decided to visit with some of our fellow youth employees to ask them questions that may help the DCRA staff get to know them better. We asked 16 year-old Laurence Cross what his favorite part of the day was. He told us that seeing his supervisor again was what he enjoyed most. Laurence has experience working with the “Support Services Division”. Last year helped give him people skills and now he’s brilliant at his job. There’s another thing that Laurence is really good at: football. He says for as long as he can remember, he always loved football. Now he’s playing football for Ballou Senior High School. His goal is to attend college and become a professional football player.

We also talked to 16 year-old Leah Britton. Her favorite part of today was the lunch break. She didn’t expect the DCRA summer youth program to be this fun. Leah’s goal is to learn how to communicate with others. After her summer job with DCRA is over, Leah plans to communicate with a lot more people. But, during the program she told us she will be saving the majority of her money and going on a shopping spree.

Next, we ran into 20 year-old Latoya Pannell. She loves getting to know others. She said she’s been having fun from the moment she walked into the building. She even wants the opportunity to learn more about DCRA as she shares her time with the staff. Her work in the communications department will help her be more confident when she attends Everest College this Fall.

– Charday Green

Communications Division

On the second day of the DCRA Summer Youth Employment Program we asked 21 year old Andrea Plowden a couple of questions about her second day of work. She attends Ballou High School. She plans to go to college in the fall. We asked her what she plans to do with the money she’ll earn this summer and she said that she plans on saving it. We also asked her what her expectation was from doing this job for the summer. Andrea told us she wanted to earn a permanent job.

I ran into 16 year-old Jabriel Imgram who is also really excited about the job. Jabriel seems to be a bright young man. This coming school year, he will be a junior at Coolidge Senior High School. He wants his resume to stand out more so that’s why he decided to work in the DCRA office building. So, when its time to find a job he will already have that type of experience. With the money he makes here, he wants to go shopping, help pay bills and most of all he wants to get tattoos.

– Demetria Lunsford

Demetria Lunsford

Welcome back to a brand new year!

Jason Barnes

Hello!

Welcome back to DCRA’s Summer Youth Program! This year we will have some interesting and cool things to share. We’ve had a slow start, but starting today we’re getting ourselves back in the game and we’re showing everyone. Stay tuned for more updates and articles summarizing our stay in 2010’s Summer Youth Program!

– Jason Barnes

School vs. Work

During the summer, many students choose to get a job. A summer job, in

Van Crawford

some ways, can be much better than time spent otherwise at school.  But, for some it can just remind them of how much they miss school. The youth at the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) have been debating on which they prefer.

Jason Barnes says he’d rather wake up in the morning and go to work as opposed to going to school. He says that work is more of a drama-free environment that allows him to concentrate on the tasks before him, without having to worry about distractions. Because Jason goes to a school which doesn’t end until late in the afternoon, he says that this leaves him tired; which ultimately makes work his choice of preference. Summer youth Anna Marie thinks differently. She much rather prefers being at school. She thinks that school keeps her more engaged. She also thinks that at school she can have more of a laid back attitude about things; whereas at work you must have more of a professional and stern way of thinking. There will always be others, such as Ahmed Brown, who has an in-between feeling on which he feels keeps him more active. He cannot decide what he’s more pleased to wake up and start his day doing. Ahmed enjoys school and work both the same. He feels that they both equally keep him busy, although if he had to choose he would probably choose school because of the level of friendships he has there.

The general analysis of choice around the office can definitely not be determined. Most kids constantly crave for summer during the entire nine months of the school year. But, in most cases, unless a child is doing something that they absolutely love during the summer, they will be anxious to go back to school. A summer job for some youth is most certainly something that takes getting used to. But, for most, anything will always be better than waking up every morning and going to school.

–Van Crawford

Preparing for the Future

Darion Parker, Writer

This past week I went around the building asking summer youth for their feedback on the professional development sessions. Overall, everyone was satisfied with the time spent on each session. The majority said that they learned a lot during the sessions about what it means to be a professional. When I asked them the most important thing they took from the sessions, almost everyone said the importance of networking. It really stuck with a lot of the youth that they cannot get where they want to go on their own. When I asked which session they enjoyed the most it was a tie between the women and men in power discussions and the most recent session on decision-making.

Going along with networking and decision-making, Kristen Cousins said “I learned you have to have people around you that want to go further. If you see that everyone around you is ok with where they are and you aren’t then that isn’t the crowd for you.” My final question to my fellow summer youth was which speaker impacted them the most. Almost everyone said that Detective Crawford was their favorite. Jeremy Bennett said, “I liked how he told stories instead of lecturing us. He actually made me think.”

—Darion Parker

At the Midway Point!

DCRA summer youth are gaining a wide variety of skills.

The summer youth at DCRA have been enjoying a program and environment that have been very beneficial to the participants. We are now at the halfway point, and many of the youth have developed professional and productive skills that will help them in many of their future career aspirations. Although there are still a few more weeks left to learn something new in the program, many youth feel that they can take the skills that they have learned so far and apply them to their other fields of interest.

Summer youth Lawrence Cross told me that his time here has taught him the importance of being a professional and the benefits that it can bring to him. So far, one of the biggest highlights of the summer program has been the weekly professional development sessions.  I talked to some of the youth to see what they thought about the professional development sessions. They stated that they thought the career fashion show and last week’s sessions with professionals from the law enforcement industry were two of the top so far.

As for filling the expectations of the program, many feel that DCRA has been able to do so, in terms of providing a professional workplace where youth can see, first-hand, the workings of D.C. government.  Some youth did complain of having non-challenging and mundane tasks, but still said that as a whole they are enjoying the program. They also talked of how in the up-coming weeks they expect much of the same that they got in the first of half of the program. With the eventual goal of everyone in the program leaving with a resume, it seems that each youth will be able to add significant substance from their time here at DCRA.

–Willis Bradwell

The Process of Applying to College

You can get free printed catalogs from most colleges and universities simply by requesting them at the school's website or by calling the admissions office.

The process of applying to college is one that can be both exciting and nerve-racking. For those who may be starting this process in the fall or some time in the near future, here are a few tips to try and make the process run a little more smoothly. The first thing you should do before you apply to college is have an idea of what you might want to study. This will help you in determining what types of schools you should look at. For example, if you have an interest in studying business, look for schools with a strong business program. You should then compile a list of maybe 10-15 schools that you like. Next, you should research the schools you have an interest in, and see what types of programs and opportunities that they can provide to you. Once you have completed your research on these schools, it should help you to begin to narrow down the list of schools you may want to attend.

If possible, it is best to try and visit any school before you apply. Visiting a school gives you a real first hand experience of what the school and its environment are really like. Although it may be hard to travel to all the schools on your list, I would strongly encourage visiting a school before you apply–especially schools that you have a strong interest in attending. After researching and visiting different schools, you should have a pretty solid idea of the schools that you seriously may want to attend.

The next step in the process is the most time-consuming and possibly the most stressful, the application process. One of the most important things to remember about applying to college is that you may not get accepted to your number one choice. However, if you have done your research and fully looked into the schools you’re applying to, you will end up at a school that is a good fit for you.

The application process is not as simple as many may think it is. There are specific steps and procedures that you need to follow to ensure that your application is good and acceptable. This first thing you need to do before sending out your applications to schools is see which schools take the common application, and which schools require you to fill out their own specific application. The common application gives you list of questions to answer, in addition to two essays that you need to write. This application can be sent to all schools that accept it, and helps expedite the process so that you don’t need to fill out a separate application for each school. However, most schools do require an additional short essay along with the common application. It is important to remember that you are sending your common application to many schools, so try not to mention, or leave the name of a certain school in one of the essays.

Once you have filled out your application comes the most important step in the process, reviewing it for any possible errors. When applying to a school you have to remember that you are just one of thousands of other kids applying to that school. Sending in an application with errors or the wrong format, shows to the admissions staff that you are not serious about attending their school, and it only hurts your chances of acceptance. I personally know of a person who works in an admissions department, and he says whenever he comes across an application with errors on it, he automatically just passes over it and moves on to the next one. When you are responsible for looking over thousands of applications, you are always glad when you can just toss one to the side.

The next idea to help you in your application process is to send in all of your materials at one time. What I mean by this is, don’t send in your SAT scores, then your application, and then your high school transcript and recommendations. Most schools don’t start reviewing your application until they have all of this information anyway, so you should send in everything at once. If you do send it in different parts, it gets put to the side until the offer parts arrive, and that can only lead to them delaying their decision, or even possibly losing part of your application. The final thing you should do when applying to colleges is look for something called an application fee-waiver. Almost all schools require you to send an application fee when applying to their school. These fees can range from between $30-75, but fee waivers are usually pretty easy to obtain, just contact the school and explain your situation to them. Hopefully this article helps in your process of applying to college, and hopefully you end up at the school that is best for you.

–Willis Bradwell

Good to Great: Customer Service

A DCRA employee assists a customer in the Business License Center.

For the past four weeks the summer youth communications team has been working very closely with customer service to create an informative PowerPoint presentation on the difference between good and outstanding customer service. The ‘Good’ section is what’s required of all government officials by the Mayor.  The ‘Outstanding’ section is comprised of ideas from the customer service and communications team. The goal of Outstanding customer service is not only to give the customer what he wants but to also make him feel comfortable enough to call back in the future.

Outstanding customer service goes further with clients because it adds personality to an already tedious process.  Most times, there is a long chain of people that the client must be transferred through just to have someone hear their problem and it helps to know that the person serving them cares.

The team recently wrapped up their PowerPoint presentation and the guide is planned to be used throughout the agency to educate future employees on the way to handle situations with customers via phone, internet and face to face interactions.

–Darion Parker