Lauderhill Elementary School Students “Cruise” the Job Market

The future is now for 88 fifth grade students from Lauderhill Paul Turner Elementary, who visited, on May 22, the Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas as part of a year-long School-to-Career program called KAPOW – KIDS AND THE POWER OF WORK. The program is a year-long career development initiative by Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, The City of Lauderhill, Learning for Success, Inc. and Broward County Schools. Through KAPOW, teachers and business volunteers collaborate to teach lessons that connect classroom learning with real-world workplace skills. Students are also exposed to many career options.

“The KAPOW site visit is a true work experience” explains Helen O’Connell, Royal Caribbean’s Community Relations Specialist. “During the visit the students will try on fire-fighting equipment, see how the ship's Youth Activity Center Staff leads passengers through a "Mad Science Activity, work at computers with the ship’s Systems Specialist in their Internet Café, and see what it takes to become an exercise instructor in the ShipShape Center – exactly what we do here.”

“These experiences are designed to introduce students to the skills needed to be successful in the workplace and teach them the importance of staying in school to prepare for their own future,” said John Casbarro, KAPOW Regional Coordinator. “We are delighted and very grateful to Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises for their extraordinary commitment.”

Lauderhill Paul Turner Elementary School uses the monthly KAPOW lessons taught by Royal Caribbean and Celebrity volunteers to fulfil part of their School Improvement Goal of teaching students the importance of reading, writing, and math skills and how they apply in the workplace, and in life. In the Cross Curriculum Connections component of the program, teachers integrate KAPOW's lessons into science, social studies, math, reading, writing and the fine arts. “This program has given students a new appreciation for the world of work and its volunteer teachers a new appreciation for the world of the classroom,” explains Commissioner Dale V.C. Holness.

Note: eLauderhill News needs to recognize that the KAPOW Program has been one of Commissioner Dale Holness's many initiatives in Lauderhill. He has tirelessly worked to make the program successful.