The students are members of the JACT — Job and Career Training — program, a new initiative by the school that helps students get on-the-job experience with local businesses and sample career paths in a controlled environment. For the past four weeks, the students have been paid employees of the Olympic Center, one of the venues operated by the state Olympic Regional Development Authority.

“This is a program that we, along with Community Schools Coordinator Keith Clark, talked about quite a bit last year,” said Olympic Center General Manager Chadd Cassidy. “We worked from last year forward to implement it this year.”

The Olympic Center housed the figure skating and ice hockey events of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games. The adjoining Conference Center at Lake Placid is also operated by ORDA and was opened in May 2011.

The students were first brought on a tour of the Olympic Center in early November, during which they got to explore the facility and learn about the different tracks they could choose from. Then, each student chose a track for the first four weeks of their employment — tracks such as automotive, food service, photography, carpentry, refrigeration, ice maintenance and electric. They had to fill out job applications and get work permits like any other employee would.

After picking the specialty they wanted to learn more about, the students began an apprenticeship-style program with Olympic Center mentors. They not only observe their mentor but also assist them with their work, gaining practical skills such as how to change the oil in a vehicle or do HVAC maintenance on an ice rink.

The Olympic Center was an obvious choice to start the program, according to Clark.

“The first placement for us which made a lot of sense just for convenience’s sake and because it has a lot of offerings was the Olympic Center,” he said.

The JACT program is in its infancy and part of a larger hands-on learning effort the school has undertaken in recent years. Clark said that the district has been working on identifying students who may not thrive in a traditional classroom setting and offering them a more active role in their education.

“Their families need to agree to it,” he said. “The school looks at them and says, ‘This is a student with great potential, but maybe the current model isn’t the best fit for them. Let’s see if we can put something in place that gets them more bought in and connected to school.'”

The JACT program has achieved just that; Cassidy said that many of the JACT students have already shown an interest in expanding their roles and time at the Olympic Center.

“One of the neat things that we didn’t really plan on when we started this was we’ve had multiple kids (who) have gone to their supervisor and asked for more hours to continue to make money and learn,” he said.

Cassidy has a personal interest in the program. An LPHS grad, his first job at 14 was also at the Olympic Center. He hopes that the JACT program will show local teenagers all that their town and its unique local features like the Olympic Center have to offer.

“I don’t think a lot of kids in our local community understand the opportunities that we have here at the Olympic Center and all of the kind of really neat things we do with all these outside entities, all the events we host and then our ability to serve our community,” he said. “For me that’s the number one thing.”

LPCSD’s Community Schools program, of which Clark is in charge, aims to bring the community and the school district into closer contact. It is in its second year.

“Community school is about making sure that … students are getting what they need to come to school and feel safe and educated,” Clark said.

In some towns and districts, a community school may focus most of its efforts on ensuring that all students have their basic needs met: three square meals, physical and mental health care, shelter, adequate clothing and guidance. LPCSD already had structures in place to meet those needs when the Community Schools program was initiated last school year, so Clark has been able to focus more on other, broader goals of the community school philosophy, which centers the school as the hub of culture and care for all members of the community — not just students.

“(I’m) trying to create programming to enhance learning … and to bring the community into the school and feel comfortable in the school,” he said. “So, it’s a positive vibe overall from the student to the parents to the community members so they feel connected with the school. The school isn’t something that you go to for 12 years and then never think about it again. We want to have the school be a place where the community looks at as offering programming, being welcoming, all that good stuff.”

This Friday, the JACT students will gather with their mentors for a holiday pizza party to commemorate the halfway point of their placements. From there, they will be given the choice to spend the next four weeks in the same specialty or explore a second specialty at the Olympic Center. Then, in February, it’ll be off to a new placement.

Clark hopes that the seven students will be able to participate in two more placements with local businesses or organizations this school year, and he’s currently in talks with a number of local businesses to make that happen.

In between placements, he plans to take the students on field trips around the area to see how other businesses that may not be able to offer placements operate.

“Doing hands-on work and being more active in their learning helps,” Clark said. “A lot of them might choose to go to BOCES and do some trade education, so it’s just a really cool opportunity for them.”