Work experience is a class here at Wilsonville High School offered for juniors and seniors. Work experience gives students the opportunity to earn credit for their job outside of school.
To earn work experience, you need to be employed and work and total of 90 hours per semester. This class gives a pass/fail grade which means that it doesn’t increase nor decrease your GPA.
During the class period where you have work experience, there is no class that you have to attend. Ms. Leatherman a counselor at Wilsonville High School shares, “we have a google classroom that has a few assignments that are job-related, like creating a resume, and things like that.”
Fernando Cuenea, a senior at Wilsonville High School took work experience this past year. He shares, “I wanted to have something to help me understand what it means to work.” Fernando enjoys taking work experience because it gives him the chance to leave school a little bit early.
One thing that Fernando has learned from work experience is, “how to manage time in between school and work.”
Another reason why students take work experience is to use it as a credit recovery period. Ms. Leatherman shared, “it’s just a way to honor the time they’re spending outside of school to earn credit. You have a job, you’re making good money and we can help you earn credit. So it’s kind of like an all-around win.”
If you are wanting to take work experience in the future, make sure you talk to your counselor about the strength of your schedule. You want to make sure that it’s not taking the place of a class where you need a letter grade.