Senior takes advantage of UPS opportunity

Jocelyn Smith juggles high school classes, UPS shifts, college courses

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Sophie Owens, Profile Editor

As each year in high school passes, the expectation to start pulling the strings of one’s life together edge on.

The advantage of joining the UPS co-school and work program is the opportunity to get a headstart into a possible career choice. Senior Jocelyn Smith is the first upperclassmen to join UPS on the road that leads to her future.

“I come to school for the first few periods (1-3, leave during 4th) and then leave for the last few periods for UPS,” Smith said. “I go to work at UPS for about three to four hours and then I take one or two classes with a professor (paid for by UPS).”

This program is specifically designed to cater to every type of hard working student hoping to get a head start.

“This is definitely going to be a nice foundation and almost like a booster for me,” Smith said. “When I heard about this program I mostly saw a way to apply my abilities that I have already developed and the obvious benefits (like being debt free).  Which I believe that factor alone puts me about five steps ahead of many of my peers. I am also taking college classes right now which helps lessen the amount of college courses I will need to take after high school.”

“I honestly do think that the ideal individual is someone with a great work ethic and knows how to time manage,” Smith said. “They also have to be willing to make sacrifices. For instance, at UPS the work maybe in high volume and although you might be done with your work you can’t actually leave until the entire team is done. So you have to sacrifice some extra time and go help your teammates.”

The opportunity to be able to jumpstart a career and aspirations is most appealing yet, there are requirements that could be potential setbacks for some.

“I had to make sure my ducks were in order, that was my first and most essential priority,” Smith said. “My grades needed to be passing and I had to be on track to graduating high school. After I made sure those requirements were met I qualified to join this program.”

“Even though I joined this program for only one semester I am still proud and thankful that I joined it,” Smith said. “I have learned a lot and definitely believe I made the right decision. Since joining this program I can now transition in to the metro college program. The metro college program is essentially the same in the sense that I will go to school and then work. The only change is the hours of course. I will work the night shift (10 pm-4 am).”