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Phoenix Fall Education SpecialThese Kids FiiBY LIZ KOCHUnemployment respects no seasons, but summer can be a worse time than other months of the year when high school and college students march in search of that elusive summer job, often swelling the ranks of the unemployed.This year again in Brooklyn, the City%u2019s Summer Jobs %u201986 program and the Career Opportunities for Brooklyn Youth (COBY) helped young adults find summer employment. For many of the young men and women this job is their first.Into A & S department store they went as cashiers, while others were employed by Brooklyn Union Gas and still others practiced their grill skills at the local McDonald%u2019s. And as the summer months come to a close, their work is being honored in different ways.COBY held their end of summer graduation ceremony at the New York Telephone Company on August 29, gathering their summer employees about them while Chamber of Commerce President Joe French told the 80 young adults %u201cthat graduation is really the beginning of something that you can take further.%u201dFor many of the teen-agers who began their jobs early in the summer the fall has allowed them to reap instant rewards as their employers take them on as after school workers for the fall. At the McDonald%u2019s on Flatbush Ave. and Fulton Street, Monique Hollingsworth from Brownsville, works as a cashier. She is hoping that her summer employment will continue longer.SAVES MONEY%u201cI learned how to save money,%u201d she says with a shy smile. Preparing to turn 17 next month, Hollingsworth says the job became important to her as something to do during the hot summer months and although she plans a further career in nursing, she says that working in the environment has given her an exposure to people that will help her in her later work.%u201cYou learn to work as a team and meet different people and get along with them,%u201d she explains.Orlando Green, another employee at McDonald%u2019s, works the egg grill in the morning and turns his hands to flipping Big Macs in the afternoon. He considers himself lucky to have landed the job, after he initially thought he would be hired as a messenger. %u201cI decided I wanted to keep myself busy this summer,%u201d he says of his choice to become involved with the summer jobs program. Standing behind the grill,Green sprinkles onions on the hamburgers with one hand and flips them methodically with the other, before sending the whole tray up to the counter.%u201cI like it here, because I can do a little bit of everything,%u201d he says, but adds that making biscuits is his favorite task. A student at Westinghouse high school, he says he plans to study electronics and attend college, but his short range plans entail staying on at McDonald%u2019s. %u201cIt is generally a good experience, a good working experience and a good people experience,%u201d he says.For Bob La Rose, the owner of the McDonald%u2019s franchise, the kids coming in through the summer jobs program, offer a vital and reliable resource. The store has participated in the program for the last five years and La Rosa says the benefits are mutual.TEACH RESPONSIBILITY%u201cWe teach them responsibility and dependability which are the two main things that we stress,%u201d he says. The advantage of the program, he adds, is that many kids come through who otherwise would not apply for a job having had no interviewing experience and no former job background.%u201cComing through the summer jobs program you get a better type. They are kids who want to work and they don%u2019t tend to leave right away,%u201d he explains. %u201cFor us it is also very important that we are able to hire local people.%u201dThrough the COBY program this year, approximately 150 youths from disadvantaged backgrounds were placed in summer jobs. Some viewed their iob exoerience in practical terms of earning money and having a job to attend to each day. For others, however, the job signified a stepping stone and symbolized financial independence.Catherine Foster, a 20-year old who waspfl F o r R rn n lrlvn S n m m p r Tnhc P rn o ra m a V * m. M.m.m j m m m M im m m iim m v b mjr v w m m %u00abr%u00bbm m mAt work at the cash register, SummerJobs '86 em ployee Monique Hollingsworthis joined by M cD onald%u2019s owner Bob LaRose. Behind the grill, em ployee OrlandoGreen shows his know how on the burgergrill. (Phoenix/Koch Photos)Summer Workers Graduate Back To SchoolPhoenix Photos By KirkIt was a unique graduation, not fromschool but from a summer of work. CareerOpportunities for Brooklyn Youth (COBY)held a graduation ceremony on August 29for young adults employed through the program this past sum m er and even handedout certificates for the Brooklyn employees.Representatives from the Cham ber of Com %u00admerce, IBM, A & S department store,Brooklyn Union Gas and ConsolidatedEdison turned out for the ceremony held atthe New York Telephone Company, whereemployers praise the efforts and work oftheir young workers and in exchange heardfrom their em ployees how they had benefitted from their summ er job experience.employed this summer at Brooklyn Union Gas, sees the job as one more step toward her complete independence. From Red Hook, she worked this summer with computers and the switchboard at BUG and her previous college experience helped her with the job. A student at Torah College in Manhattan she is looking at a career involved with both computers and child development. %u201cI always say, if you really want something you have to get it,%u201d she adds. Foster was one of the employees chosen to speak at the graduationceremony.Nineteen-year old Claudette Vassel slid that her first experience as an employee had given her confidence to try something on the next step of the employment ladder. %u201cThis year they asked me if I wanted to work in a bank, but I had never worked anywhere before, so I asked to work at A & S,%u201d she explains. Spending the summer alternating between the hosiery and men%u2019s department as a cashier, she says she understands how to function in a work environment and adds: %u201cNext year, I%u2019ll workin a bank.%u201dAlso in attendance at the COBY graduation were the organizers of the group. Cochairman Francesco Cantarella nodded to the group and said: %u201cWe have placed roughly 3,000 youths since we began seven years ago. The potential with these jobs lavs in thp fart th a t snmwmp nan en further. It%u2019s perhaps a first experience that gives them a nudge in the right direction,%u201d he says.Septem ber 4 , 1J%u00bb86, THE PH O EN IX, Pa0%u00ab 23