SYEP: Summer Experience

Approaching The End...

2011-08-01T11:13:00.002-04:00

As we approach the end of the Summer Youth Program I'd like to thank DDOT on behalf of all the youth for allowing us to truly experience the "work world". DDOT has given us great task and assignments that will be useful in our future. Some people started out just working for the money but after these 6 weeks found themselves very intrigued in the work they were doing and looked forward to coming to work everyday. Others still only come for the paycheck and some have been terminated due to lack of attendance and failure to communicate. Through all of this the real thanks goes to Ms. Latoya Yarde. Ms Yarde has worked extremely hard over the last 6 weeks to keep this program a success. She has dealt with things as simple as correcting time sheets and as complex as dealing with "teenage drama". We all appreciate Ms Yarde for her dedication to the program and believe me I know she is glad it is almost over. As for the supervisors of the students we also thank you for not only setting aside time to teach these young men and women but for supporting Ms. Yarde so that this program could be a success. It has been a rocky road for some of us but we made it and I must say I will miss coming here everyday informing the public about the things we do here at DDOT.!

ALTHOUGH WE'VE REACHED THE END OF TH ROAD WE'VE COME TO AN OPEN DOOR OF A NEW BEGINNING

STREET AND BRIDGE MAINTENANCE!

2011-07-28T12:00:00.002-04:00

Today, we visited the SYEP students at Street and Bridge Maintenance. Their daily duties consist of purchasing, working on snow trucks to prepare for the incoming snow season, roadway repair, street repairs, alley work, and bridge inspection reports. The supervisor, Frank Pacifico informed us that the SYEP participants are a great help to the department. He said, the students help to accomplish things that the regular employees cannot get to during their day to day schedule. We spoke with two of the summer youth, Diamond and Jebron. Diamond's task consist of reviewing snow routes, (heavy plows and light plows), calling companies for materials, faxing supplies, relaying messages, and washing trucks. Jebron's task are a bit different. He picks up trash, unscrew long screws from the trucks, runs errands, and wash trucks as well. The students were asked whether they liked their job or not and would they return next year, both students elatedly replied yes to both questions. The students were also asked what has been their favorite part about their job and they both said washing the trucks. They agreed that washing the trucks was fun and gave them great enjoyment. Although, the program is quickly coming to an end the students said they would return next year and do it all again. Until next time.
-Victoria Swinson and Tierra Cates-

WE ARE ONE!

2011-07-27T14:49:00.001-04:00

UNITY: Together we can make it.!

2011-07-27T13:21:00.001-04:00

"Fabulous"
By: Jahiem

Young cat got back did a little dig,
kind of hearty but he tough, dorag and timbs,
kind of hard to get a job,
back out on the block charge that to the game

Young girl she grew up in a rush had it bad, no doubt,
she don't know who to trust every man
she ever loved only wanna touch charge that to the game

[Bridge:]
but its all gravy, baby
shots get popped, the cops shut down the party jeans sag low,
blow smoke out of dutches,
we got love for ya'll but ya'll don't know us

[Chorus:]
Now we swerve in the suburban and switching lanes
spend up all our dough on them chrome and thangs,
name our kids some funny names,
Don't hate on us were fabulous

We pay cellies for local calls
hating kinds of demons up at the malls rocking corn rolls and twist,
thats how we roll don't hate on us were fabulous

[Verse 2:]
They met he said how she was a dime,
so naive that she believed every single lie,
17 first time slipped up bout to have a child charge that to the game

was just us and mom, single family home,
she did the best she could, did it all alone,
met a man but he won't raise a child that's not his own
Oh, no,
Oh, no, no

[Bridge:]
but its all gravy, baby
shots get popped, the cops shut down the party jeans sag low,
blow smoke out of dutches, we got
love for ya'll but ya'll don't know us

[Chorus:]
Now we swerve in the suburban and switching lanes
spend up all our dough on them chrome and thangs,
name our kids some funny names,
Don't hate on us were fabulous

We pay cellies for local calls
hating kinds of demons up at the malls rocking corn rolls and twist,
thats how we roll don't hate on us were fabulous

With all that we've got
and no matter whatever together what weather the storm
and meanwhile with all we got it might get rough but it's alright
'cause U-N-I-T-Y is all we need to get our R-E-S-P-E-C-T
and never G-I-V-E U-P
and keep your H-E-A-D U-P
and never G-I-V-E U-P
and keep your H-E-A-D U-P
and never G-I-V-E U-P
and keep your H-E-A-D U-P
and never G-I-V-E U-P
and keep your H-E-A-D U-P
and never G-I-V-E U-P
and keep your H-E-A-D U-P
and never G-I-V-E U-P
and keep your H-E-A-D U-P

SUCCESS IS THE WAY TO GO.!!

2011-07-27T13:06:00.003-04:00

In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time.
-Anthony J. D'Angelo-

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.
-Bill Cosby-

Success has a simple formula: do your best, and people may like it.
-Sam Ewing-

Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.
-Oscar Wilde-

LEAD AND THEY SHALL FOLLOW

2011-07-27T10:40:00.003-04:00

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

NO SUCH THING AS A PROMISING FUTURE!

2011-07-26T13:19:00.000-04:00

"It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream."
-Edgar Allan Poe

"It is said that the present is pregnant with the future."
-Voltaire

"The future starts today, not tomorrow."
-Pope John Paul II

DDOT SYEP Enrichment Program

2011-07-25T12:42:00.000-04:00

On Thursday July 20th, 2011, DDOT held its part 2 of the annual summer enrichment program. This particular enrichment was held for the 16-21 year old SYEP participants. Similiar to the enrichment held for the younger youth, vendors and speakers came in to talk with the young adults about different topics that will be vital to their developmental process (growing up). One of the vendors who came was a volunteer group from Howard University. Most of the volunteers in this group were recent college graduates, so they had a lot of important information to share. Their presentation focused on the different types of resume's, schools, jobs and presenting yourself. We split into groups based on what we were interested in learning more about such as internships, college essays/resumes, and job applications to name a few. In these groups, we all asked questions pertaining to the topic and even shared some of the things we already knew. The groups were made up of about 5-10 students, so it also allowed us to get to know a little more about our peers in such a short time. DDOT also had a vendor fly in all the way from Philly. This particular vendor came in and spoke with us about finances & budgetting. We are all at that age where it is important for us to learn & know how to save and budget our money. She talked about how it is important to prioritze our spending. Bills such as rent, phone bills, tuition, paying back loans and/or bank fees should always get paid first. Miscellaneous spending such as hair, clothes and recreational things should be handled after all of your 'must do' things have been paid for. She also suggested that we should try creating a spending budget. This budget will allow you to select an amount to spend on certain things so that you don't "overspend" and save more. For example, if i get paid $500 dollars every 2 weeks, I should create a budget that allows me to pay for priority things, and spend less on miscellaneous things until I am able to splurge on my next pay day. Say my rent was $150, my phone bill was $25 and I spent $50 on groceries, I'd pay those first. Later, I would have $275 dollars to do what I wanted, I could even put some aside (maybe in a savings account), to have on one of those "rainy days" when funds are low. She talked about how important it is for us to save because we never know what kind of incidents we may run into that requires us to spend more than what we have. She mentioned credit cards and loans, and talked about how important it was for us to pay these things back. During the presentation, she would randomly ask questions to make sure that everyone was keeping up & learning, she also gave out little prizes to the students who were paying attention & answering questions correctly. Like the enrichment for the 14-15 year olds, DDOT also had a group come in and speak about sexually transmitted diseases and infections. As a group (the students & vendors) talked about how important it is to protect yourself and ways to go about doing so. We interactively engaged in activities, such as "room around the rosy" where we would go around the room posting on the wall, what we knew about the different methods that prevent pregnancy.

Leadership Quote of The Day

2011-07-19T09:11:00.003-04:00

"When nothing is sure, everything is possible."
~Margaret Drabble

MOVING ALONG!!

2011-07-19T09:07:00.061-04:00

As we move along throughout the SYEP program, we look forward to the activities DDOT has in store for us. We’ve been very active lately and we will be visiting another DDOT location this week. DDOT is also hosting another Enrichment Program for the older SYEP participants this week. Thursday, July 14, 2011 we attended another Toastmasters Meeting. In this particular meeting we had visitors from another Toastmasters group in attendance. During this meeting one of DDOT's employees Malika Winzor presented a phenomenal speech about her life entitled "Open The Door". Kim Muldrow also gave a speech about her life called "Getting to Know Kim". During Ms. Muldrow's speech she became very emotional about how she overcame her struggles and the things that led her to the right path of life. Ledesma Smith-Mathis had the honor of being the Table Topics Master. Ms. Smith-Mathis listed various amounts of money and transportation methods on separate cards and had volunteers pick one of each and make a vacation. One of the volunteers Tina Roper sold her story, some of the guest thought it was real. At the end of the meeting the guest that were present gave suggestions and ideas from their meetings to the members and they also gave constructive criticism. Overall the meeting was another success and we look forward to the next one.

SYEP ENRICHMENT (14-15 YRS OLD)

2011-07-19T09:07:00.060-04:00

Yesterday (July 13th, 2011), DDOT held an Enrichment Program for the 14-15 year old SYEP participants. Different vendors came to do informational & motivational presentations for the youth, hoping they all would take something from it. Each presentor(s) also did a little “Q & A” session at the end of their presentations to see what the students learned. The presentations, however were all about different topics. The first presentation was centered around DDOT and the responsibilites the company has, being as though it plays a major role in the city. Laurie Freeman from Bank on DC also presented. She talked about managing finances, the difference between banks & credit unions, and the pros & cons of both. She also talked ADP Total Pay Cards, which is how the teens get paid. Laurie told the youth about the hidden fees and ways to avoid them. Sisters in Hahsta (SIH) is a group of young women who spread the word about pregnancy, drugs, sex, STD’s, STI’s, and the importance of protecting yourself. SIH had many different activities & games for the students to play & learn from. One game they played was called “House Party”. The purpose of this game was to show how fast and easily STD’s can spread. The youth were given cards and told to walk around the room and interact with their peers as if it were an actual party. Each card had the name of a STD or STI on it. At the end of the party, everyone had to reveal what STD or STI they “had” and every person who came into contact with them had to stand. SIH also lead the group through skits and improv. Two SYEP participants volunteered to act in a skit called “Cooling”. In this skit, the volunteers had to demonstrate what should happen in the event that you don’t have a condom. SIH concluded their presentation by seperating the group into two teams for a quick “jeopardy” about STD’s. Although it was hard getting the students to actively participate, SIH pulled through. The last session of the day was done by Tina Roper. Her session was about the topic "You Are Somebody". She made the students believe in themselves even if they didn't want to. Ms. Roper used Jay-Z as an inspiration to the students and talked about how he came from nothing and he is rich today. She presented his swag in a commercial and had the students come up with their own swag commercial. The students really enjoyed this part of the enrichment program and they had a lot of fun with it. The Enrichment Program for the teens will be held Wednesday, July 20th, 2011 and we cannot wait to attend and blog about the fun we had. Until next time.!
-Victoria Swinson & Tierra Cates-

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

2011-07-19T08:51:00.005-04:00

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”

EXPLORING DDOT!

2011-07-19T08:51:00.004-04:00

On July 11th, we visited another one of DDOT’s many locations to get a first hand look at what some of the other SYEP participants are doing at work. One of the buildings we visited was the Fabrications Building. Here, the youth help DDOT employees with making street signs. Yes, actual street signs! The signs come blank and have to be put through a machine to establish color. They use stencils to cut out letters & icons for the signs. They also place a special tape on top of the stencils so that they can easily peel off and be put on the sign. On average, it takes approximately and hour to make small signs. The larger ones, similiar to the signs on highways, usually take a bit longer to make. We even got to watch one if the teens make a sign by himself. When asked “what do enjoy most about your job?”, the young man replied “Everything, I like to draw, so this is right up my alley!” We also visited a couple of other buildings in the same area. In one of the buildings, the teens were going through tons of flags, seperating the “worn out” flags from the ones that were in pretty good shape. These flags were often used for parades, national activities and when other countries visit the capitol. There were flags from all over the world, including Morroco, Pakistan, China and Puerto Rico. Last, we were able to visit the Traffic Signals Office where they handle traffic city maintenence & administration. The teens who work in this office help file documents and do other work on the computer.

THE BEGINNING

2011-07-06T13:42:00.003-04:00

Today we visited The Office of Information Technology and Innovation (OITI), one of the numerous departments within DDOT. We met with Jose’ Colon who is the lead representative of the OITI SYEP division. Jose’ has about 20 youth working under him. The youth are helping OITI with a number of things including file transfers, document management, and other software systems. One of the task that the youth have is creating a training manual for a permitting online system entitled TOPS. The training manual makes it easier for the public to get permits online. In addition to permitting they work on IT support, safety data, dashboards, and a work water management system called Cityworks. OITI is in charge of over 25 software systems. There are over 70,000 files that need to be organized and transferred into a document library, SYEP participants have already completed approximately 30,000 of the file transfers. After talking with the youth they all conveyed that they like their jobs because they love computers and their learning valuable working skills that they can carry along with them after the summer program ends. The youth are also working on a Geographic Information System(GIS), which is similar to the works of Google Earth and Mapquest. One SYEP employee is working with the telecommunications division under OITI. Her duties include installing headsets, wireless cards, working with digital phones, updating software systems and creating spreadsheets. All the love these students have for computers will definitely show once they get the opportunity to take a computer apart and rebuild it.

ALWAYS WORKING

2011-07-05T14:50:00.003-04:00

Here at DDOT we are constantly working to improve our city. Although, we are not out on the streets in this particular department, we are definately making a difference.

WHAT IS DDOT?

2011-07-05T13:52:00.003-04:00

The Disrict of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT), is a agency owned by the government that maintains publicly-owned transportation infrastructure in the District of Columbia. DDOT is the head agency with authority over the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of the roads, bridges, street lights, and traffic signals in the District of Columbia. For the next 5 weeks a selective number of Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), participants will get the honor of being apart of this great cooperation. DDOT has many different responsibilities that must be put into motion and made more efficient for the safety of our city. The agency is responsible for 1,100 miles (1,700 kilometers) of streets, 241 bridges, 1,600 miles (2.574 kilometers) of sidewalks, 453 miles (729 kilometers) of alleys, 144,000 trees adjacent to city streets. SYEP students get the opportunity to participate in the planning organization, and creativity of these responsibilities to make the world a better place.

THE JOB

2011-06-30T12:53:00.001-04:00

Being a publications aide is a lot of fun here at DDOT. Although, we are just getting started the things we will be able to do sound great. As a publication aide we get to travel along the different locations where SYEP participants from DDOT are located and interview them, take pictures, and see what it is they do on their job. Not only do we get to travel but we get to attend meetings, gatherings, and other exciting activities that may occur here throughout the summer. We have been previously informed about some workshops we will be attending and they sound like great fun. We look forward to attending these workshops and blogging about them as well. As publications aides our job is to keep the public informed about the things we are accomplishing here at DDOT in order to better assist the city and make it a better place. Be sure to look for the workshop blogs they will be coming soon. Until next time.!

-Victoria Swinson & Tierra Cates-

OPEN OPPORTUNITY

2011-06-30T10:53:00.000-04:00

Over 20,000 youth signed up to receive summer employment ths summer. 12,000 of the youth completed the proper process and began working as of June 27th, 2011. Despite the hundreds of jobs that have already been distrubuted, there are still more position available. Although, the directors of the program continued to reiterate how relevant it was to complete every step effectively in order to obtain a spot, there is still a chance for those who were put on the waiting list due to lack of completion or failure to meet deadlines to work this summer. During this first week of the program The Department of Employment Services (DOES), has contacted the people on the waiting list and allowed them two days to come out and claim their job. The students on the waiting list should receive a job no later than July 5th, 2011 if they complete the necessary steps required. DOES is making it their priority to help these young people better themselves in the future by extending an invitation for them to be able to participate in the program this year. Life is too short to miss out on good opportunities, especially one that allows you to make money.

ToastMasters Club: The Art of Speaking

2011-06-29T13:49:00.004-04:00

Today, we were allowed to sit in on one of DDOT's biweekly Toastmasters meetings. For those who don't know, Toastmasters is a program of communication and leadership activities designed to help men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking. There are three basic parts to the Toastmasters meeting: the prepared speeches, Table Topics, and evaluations. Here at DDOT, employees from different departments partake in these meetings and every participant has a different task. In the prepared speaking portion of the meeting, several Toastmasters will give a prepared presentation or speech before the group. Speeches are timed and focused on a specific topic. "Table Topics" is a speaking exercise where the speaker speaks "off the cuff"; that is, the speaker responds to a question or topic that is not known beforehand. The Table Topics Master presents the topic, calls on an individual, and then that individual has 1 to 2 minutes to respond. The evaluation session is where feedback is provided to all members, including the speakers. The evaluation session is headed by a General Evaluator, who calls on individual speech evaluators to give a 2- to 3-minute evaluation of an earlier presentation. After the speeches, table topics, and evaluations have been completed, the General Evaluator calls for the helper reports which are completed by the gramarian, the ah-counter, and the time keeper. Each helper stands before the group and present their reports. Toastmasters are not sessions for criticism, but rather sessions of succession the idea is to improve and help others improve where improvement is necessary.

SUPPORTERS!!

2011-06-29T09:31:00.004-04:00

There were a lot of government organizations that received budget cuts this year. Asbury United Methodist Church made a contribution in support of summer youth employment.

Ready, Set, WORK!

2011-06-28T14:13:00.000-04:00

Despite budget cuts, many teens in DC were eager to start the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). As of June 27th, 2011, approximately 12,000 young adults ranging ages 14-21 began working at their assigned job sites. In order to fully experience the employment process, the participants were required to atttend a Career Fair in which they had to dress business casual and undergo interviews with agencies of their interests. In preparation for the first day of work, the students also had to attend an orientation to inform them on the rules & regulations of the workplace. Over 100 organizations, including Federal & Disrict Government, offered job opportunities to the SYEP participants. One of the agencies that hires teens for summer work is the District Department of Transportation (DDOT). DDOT has been working with SYEP consecutively for years now. This year DDOT selected 200 participants to work with them this summer. Of the 200 teens chosen, Tierra Cates & Victoria Swinson are both journalism majors who were selected to work at DDOT as Publications Aides. As Publications Aides, they will convey the concept & importance of DDOT through a blog that they will create.