ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Akeem Blake fills out paperwork at Lynn City Hall for his summer job.
BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE
LYNN — Rudy Guzman, a student at Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, is excited to do hands-on work in his field this summer.
“I always wanted to do electrical, since I was little,” said Guzman, 17. “To get the job feels good.”
Guzman is one of more than 150 Lynn teens assigned summer jobs through a city program funded by a Community Development Block grant and a state Youth Works Grant totaling $233,000. Private donations will bring overall funding to $300,000.
David Cruz, a 17-year-old student, expressed a similar reaction to learning his job placement and said he was excited to get more experience and knowledge.
“This is the beginning of my career,” he said.
John Kasian, summer youth program director, said about half of the students will work in the private sector, and about half will work at City Hall, in the city’s parks and cemeteries and in the school administration buildings.
Craig Collins, a 16-year-old sophomore at KIPP Academy, will work with East Lynn Parks. His first duty will be to clean up Pine Grove Cemetery, he said.
Collins, who has never had a job before, is saving money for expenses related to getting his driver’s license next year.
This is the third summer for Jonathan Crowell, 17, a Lynn English High School senior who will work as a camp counselor at Camp Fire North Shore in Salem. Crowell said he applies each year because the work is reliable and he enjoys working with kids.
Brandon Ebeh, 17, is a Lynn English senior who will work with ERC Wiping Products Inc. Ebeh wants to become a doctor, but said he is excited to get work experience and learn perseverance and time management skills.
The participants range in age from 16 to 21 years old. This year, more than 300 applications were received. Through an interview process, they were narrowed down and a lottery determined which 160 would be placed in jobs.
“We try to get closer and closer to meeting the need each year,” Kasian said.
The program, sponsored by Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy and the city’s office of Economic and Community Development, will start next week and continue through the month of August.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.