Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph –
The Air Force Aid Society can help for active-duty members
who find themselves in a financial bind.
It can also provide a boost for the children of active-duty
members.
The AFAS-sponsored Youth Employment Skills program, which is
offered at selected Air Force installations, gives high school students an
opportunity to gain work experience and allows them to “bank” work credits
toward their post-secondary education.
“It’s a wonderful program,” Andrea Black, Joint Base San
Antonio-Randolph Youth Programs coordinator, said. “There’s so much that
students gain from it.”
The YES program is open to students in grades 9-12 who are
the children of active-duty and Title 10 Air Force members, Black said.
Students register year-round through their youth center,
where they are also interviewed, she said. They are required to complete an
enrollment application each year they are in the program.
Students are credited $6 per volunteer hour up to 250 hours,
or $1,500; credits are held in an account until they graduate from high school,
Black said. The dollar credits are awarded in grant form when students submit a
YES student disbursement form, a copy of their high school diploma or their
General Educational Development certificate and an outstanding bill or invoice
from a post-secondary program to the AFAS.
Funds are limited to tuition, books, fees, curriculum-required
supplies and other direct educational expenses.
At JBSA-Randolph, students in the YES program are placed at
facilities such as the youth center, the library, the Military & Family
Readiness Center and the child development center, Black said.
At the youth center, students help with facility upkeep,
prepare tables for lunch and clean up afterwards, assist staff and help younger
children with arts and crafts.
“We make sure they’re busy,” she said.
Some students even create their own opportunities at work,
Black said.
“One of our students started a reading club,” she said.
Black said the students set their own hours, so their work
schedules are varied. During the summer, some students work from 8 a.m. to 3
p.m. as many as five days a week and spend the rest of the day at the youth
center.
“The teen room opens at 3 p.m., so some of the students
clock out and hang out there with their friends,” she said.
Students can also pick up hours on Saturday, when the youth
center is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and after school during the
academic
year.
Students have four years to accumulate their 250 hours, but
some reach their goal much faster, Black said.
“Some can bust it out in one summer,” she said.
JeVaughnte Shannon, a 15-year-old sophomore at Steele High
School, said his mother, Master Sgt. Lakisha Shannon, recommended the program
to him to keep him busy during the summer. Because he loves children, the
program is a natural fit.
“Working at the youth center is really enjoyable because I
get to spend a lot of time with the kids,” he said. “I like hanging around the
gym, interacting with them.”
MeMe Hartson, also a 15-year-old sophomore at Steele High
School, said she is able to “kill two birds with one stone” by being in the
program.
“I wanted a place to go for the summer, and as a volunteer I
get my hours and have a place to go,” she said.
MeMe, the daughter of 1st Lt. Michael and Master Sgt. Nakia
Hartson, said she was inspired early to join the YES program.
“I’ve seen teenagers working here since I was in first grade,”
she said. “When I got older, I wanted to do the same thing.”
Black said the YES program prepares high school students for
the real world.
“We treat them like staff members,” she said. “We teach them
to be responsible and independent.”
For more information on the YES program, call 652-2088
at JBSA-Randolph, 221-4492 at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston and 671-2388 at
JBSA-Lackland.