Ortega Middle School eighth grade students enjoy Job Days in Alamosa community

Editor’s Note: Benito Muniz is an eighth grader from Ortega Middle School who came to the Valley Courier as part of OMS Job Days. His assignment was to write an article about other participating OMS students. Aside from editorial guidance, all words and photos are the work of Muniz.

ALAMOSA — Every year eighth grade students at OMS are given the chance to get a taste of their future. On May 8 and 9, students are able to participate in “Job Days.” They are instructed to find a willing host employer, get an interview and work two days at the job or jobs of their choice. These jobs can range anywhere from shadowing a surgeon, to helping at an animal shelter, to working at a candy shop.

Many students decided to work at an animal shelter—the Valley Humane League to be specific. The group consisted of Thomas Bishop, Juan Gaspar, Dylan Skinner, Analise Padilla, Aracely Pedro-Pablo and Sierra Archuleta. The reason for so many people working there is a collective love for dogs, enjoyment from being around them and a like for the place itself. This group had the duties of walking the dogs, cleaning the cages and keeping the dogs entertained, among other things. Even though it was tiring, they still described that the experience was fun overall.

The students Joseph Maestas, Wyatt Kloberdanz and Megan Carpenter had decided to work at the well-known farm and ranch store Big R. These three found the experience quite rewarding, as they learned a lot from it, and gained a lot of work experience. They were put to work stocking and organizing shelves, helping other workers, customer service and various cleaning tasks. Though they had much to do, they found that they enjoyed the job and found it curiously interesting, even if they may not have chosen the job for completely valid or professional reasons. Maestas in particular stated that he made the decision to work there purely “because it is right next to McDonalds.”

A couple of students, Marcus Gonzales and Brock Heersink, chose to offer their services to Ace Hardware. After working in two very different places the day before, Elk Creek Veterinary Clinic and City Market, the two students had the same idea to work at this popular hardware store. They both enjoyed their jobs of stocking shelves, labeling items and assorted customer service opportunities, and found them all to be a great collective learning and working experience.

Jacqueline Gonzales and Andres Dominguez chose to go a very unique route when it came to OMS Job Days. Andres chose to work at Nestle Toll House, and Jacqueline made the decision to work at the relatively new Lolly’s Sweets Shoppe. They decided on these jobs for similar reasons, one being a like for baking, and the other being a sweet tooth. They both had the job of making assorted sweets and treats, and found the day very enjoyable.

Finally, the two students Tracen Rothermich and Daniel Gurule concluded that they would go to Colorado Sports for Job Days. They thought that “it’d be cool”, considered a possible future working there, and wanted to see what it would really be like. They both had fun and enjoyed their day of helping people out and learning how to use an embroidery machine.

All of the eighth grade OMS students seem to like this annual school tradition and hope it will continue on for years and years. They wish that all the students would be able to experience this amazing time and gain a large amount of insight towards their future and their future jobs.

Captions: Joseph Maestas, left, and Wyatt Kloberdanz do their best and load up Carl Hatch’s truck in the parking lot of Big R./Courier photos by Benito Muniz

OMSJobDays1WebOrtega Middle School eighth grader Andres Domingues puts together some sugary sweets with cookie dough at Nestle Toll House for OMS Job Days on Wednesday.

OMSJobDays2WebTracen Rothermich, left, and Daniel Gurule watch and learn as the embroidery machine does its work at Colorado Sports.

OMSJobDays3WebJacqueline Gonzales spins up some cotton candy in the back room of Lolly’s Sweets Shoppe.