A Day in the Office—from the Students’ Perspective

On Groundhog Job Shadow Day, RaeJae Robinson and I went to the Pulaski County Administrative Building to job shadow Arkansas State Representative Fredrick Love who is also the Director at Pulaski County Community Services. I had a wonderful experience from the time we showed up. We arrived early and got a chance to speak with Mr. Love’s Administrative Assistant, Tiffany Meyers. While with her, I learned about the many beneficial programs they work on for the community. Mr. Love showed up at promptly at 10 am and we followed him to his office where we spoke mostly about ourselves, what trade we are taking at Job Corps, how we could advance in that trade, our interests in furthering our education, and much more. Mr. Love awarded us the opportunity to job shadow people who have jobs in each of our trades. I was placed with his FSS coordinator, Ms. Whitney Marsalis. I spent an hour with Whitney learning about her duties as well as speaking personally with her. I quickly became inspired by her because she was the youngest in that department and had a path similar to mine. We all enjoyed lunch together, and then wrapped our day up by going to the State Capitol where Mr. Love’s photographer met with us to take pictures.
by Katlin Oltmer

Representative Love is a prime example of the eight Career Success Standards that we have on center. He showed me a great example of all eight while I shadowed him. He introduced us to his staff, gave us an overview of what he does, and also let us meet people he worked with that could help us in our career path.

We first met with his assistant that gave us a glimpse of what a hard working Representative schedule was like. I was surprised he had time to be shadowed. We also got to hear from him and hear how the county works in the aspect of funding and the creation process. It begins with him. He has to get funding for buildings that help with housing and Medicare. His job as Representative is to make sure that the buildings are being attended to and meets standards. He is now working on a project to help a community in Pulaski County with getting running water, which is a million dollar project.

After telling Mr. Love that I was interested in the healthcare field, he let me visit one of his buildings and talk with the manager. She explained to me the different directions you can go with healthcare. From inspection of restaurants to inspection of pools, STD prevention, and BMI in public schools. I was very grateful for the experience and I would love to visit again.
by RaeJae Robinson