Openings available in youth employment program

The Grundy-Kendall Regional Office of Education has openings in their free youth employment program which helps 16 to 21 year-old youth find jobs and prepare for careers.  The program also helps high school dropouts pass the GED.  The program is funded by the River Valley Workforce Investment Board.

Marvin Benites, 20, came to the program in January 2015.  Benites wanted help preparing for the GED test because he had heard the updated GED test was more difficult than before and that significantly fewer people were passing the GED.

For 3 months, Benites came regularly to tutoring appointments to meet one-on-one with the youth program’s certified teacher.  Benites decided on a strategy of preparing for one GED subject at a time and passing it before preparing for another subject.  Besides tutoring appointments, Benites used the preparatory website at i-Pathways.com to learn the particular knowledge and skills that are needed to pass the GED.

For about 6 weeks, Benites focused primarily on math.  He learned about quadratic equations, the slope of a line, geometry, and other advanced math topics.  He passed the GED math test on March 13.

Next he reviewed scientific terminology and scientific knowledge; subsequently he passed the GED Science test on March 27.   On April 11, he passed the GED Language Arts test.  And he passed the GED Social Studies test on April 24.  He also passed the Constitution test after studying Constitution material for one day.  Benites received his GED diploma April 27, 2015.

Currently to be eligible for the youth employment program, youth must be 16-21 years of age and meet low income guidelines.  Starting in July, youth up to 24 years of age can be in the program and there will be more ways to qualify other than the current low income requirement.  For more information on the program, call Mark or Laura at (630) 553-4166 or send an email to yep@roe24.org.