Throughout the summer, several teens at Naval Station (NAVSTA) Rota participated in the installation’s Teen Employment Program to gain valuable work experience while getting paid. The program – funded by the Navy Child & Youth Programs (CYP) – is focused on providing summer work experience to youth, aged 14-18 years old.

Aaron Chapuis, youth center director and facilitator of the program, explained that this year the program was broken into two sessions allowing more teens to participate and be placed within the Child Development Center (CDC), School Age Care (SAC), and Youth Sports.

“The youth in the community have very limited opportunities to gain work experience,” said Chapuis. “This program provides teens the opportunity to go through the process of applying for a job.”

For most teens, this would be their first job. However, some returned after a positive experience last year.

“This is my second year doing it,” said Steven Camacho, a teen hire at CDC. “I really enjoyed it last year and had fun with the kids. I wanted to do it again because I had so much fun.”

To prepare the teens with applying for a job, Randy Lambert, NAVSTA Rota school liaison, provided workshops to help prepare the teens in late spring.

“I provided two separate workshops on resume writing and interview techniques,” said Lambert. “Each teen-focused workshop was approximately one and a half hours with information, tips specifically for teens, examples of resumes, and resources.”

During the first workshop, Lambert talked to the teens about how to translate their school accomplishments, extracurricular activities, and sports experiences into tangible skills for their resume.

“The second phase of the workshop included reviewing the Teen Employment Program job announcement and learning about interview techniques, common interview questions, and quirky interview questions,” explained Lambert.

Throughout both workshops, Lambert stressed the importance of first impressions and the teens presenting themselves professionally.

When it came time for the hiring, over half the teens who applied were offered a job during one of the two sessions. While it was hard to not be able to offer all teens, Chapuis emphasized that the experience and the skills learned will benefit each teen in the future when applying for jobs.

For those selected, they then completed a weeklong training period where they completed required paperwork, learned job duties, and fulfilled trainings to work with the child and youth programs.

“I learned that every child is different and there are different ways to help [or direct] the child,” said Awoyn Anderson, a teen hire at SAC. “Some are more sensitive, some are angry, and some are sad so it’s important to know different ways to work with them.”

With the theories complete, the teens headed to their work centers where they got to implement the practical application of these theories and develop their job skills. As the summer comes to an end, these teens have added new job skills to their resumes, possibly found a potential career, and had fun while garnering some extra cash for the school year.

As the “Gateway to the Mediterranean,” NAVSTA Rota provides U.S., NATO and allied forces a strategic hub for operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. NAVSTA Rota is a force multiplier, capable of promptly deploying and supporting combat-ready forces through land, air and sea, enabling warfighters and their families, sustaining the fleet and fostering the U.S. and Spanish partnership.