Shelby Wagenaar, a Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Office Administration trainee, is spending her Spring Break working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic response. Wagenaar began working part time as a receptionist at Dolphin Pointe Health Care in Jacksonville, FL on April 17th. Her duties as a receptionist include scheduling and screening visitors, checking and recording temperatures, providing visitors with personal protective equipment, taking and transferring incoming calls, managing packages and applications, and ensuring the health and welfare of those who enter the facility. Wagenaar admits that her position at the senior health and rehabilitation facility may increase her risk of contracting the coronavirus. “There is a chance I may contract the virus, but I take precautions and I am screened every morning as well. “Her decision to work at a healthcare facility was fueled, in part, by the fact that her grandfather became ill and was hospitalized in early April. “I don’t want my parents or grandparents to contract the COVID-19 virus, so I’m doing all I can to prevent it for others.”
Wagenaar attributes her training in Office Administration, taught by Chuck Adams, to her success in obtaining her position. That training and her OPAC Biddle certification, which she earned in August 2019, impressed her employer and made her a strong candidate for the job. The OPAC Biddle certification focuses on financial management, record keeping, bank reconciliation, bank deposits and basic math.

Wagenaar also is an outstanding student at Perkins Job Corps, earning the highest ranking on the student behavior management system. During her work-based learning internship, she organized, inventoried and set up a system for tracking the borrowing and returning of tools at the center’s tool room. She also has been a willing volunteer for center events such as graduations and blood drives.