Juvenile Judge Jim Ronk is happy to announce some good news about teenagers in our community. 49 youths have successfully completed the Summer Teen Employment Program. During the past 7 weeks these teenagers have provided over 2500 hours of public service. They have worked throughout the county mowing grass, pulling weeds, painting fences, and picking up trash, as well as, answering telephones, shredding paper, filing, sorting clothes and numerous other tasks. According to Judge Ronk this is truly a “win win “ program. The public benefits from the labor these young people provide and the teenagers benefit from being in a work environment. Ronk believes it is an important learning experience for 14, 15 and 16 year olds to report to work on time, wear the proper clothing for the job and see the other demands of holding down a job.

In addition to providing work experience, the STEP program also required the teenagers to attend 8 hours of classroom instruction each week. These 8 hours were divided between life skill training, which addressed subjects such as filling out a job application and interviewing, as well as, physical fitness training and sessions on how to improve their behavior and decision making. The youths in this program are not paid for their community service or classroom attendance. However, for each day they successfully complete their assigned tasks they do receive a reward. All of the teenagers in this program are on probation to the Knox County Juvenile Court and earned the chance to participate in the program through their improved behavior while on probation.

Ronk indicated that a program of this size requires the help and support of many people. This program would not be possible without the financial support of the Knox County Commissioners and Roger Shooter, the Director of Job and Family Services. This program would not be successful without the leadership of Angie Webb and the other members of the Court’s probation staff who put countless hours into this program. Finally Judge Ronk expressed his sincere thanks to the 18 public offices and non profit organizations that provided a work site for the teenagers to work. These work sites were located at the Village of Centerburg, Rardin Ranch, Danville Interchurch, the Salvation Army, Mount Vernon Interchurch, the Farm Services Agency, Mount Vernon Developmental Center, the Freedom Center, Moundbuilders, Centerburg Interchurch, the Red Cross, the City of Mount Vernon, Knox County Prosecuting Attorney, the Mental Health Association, Columbia School, Fredericktown Interchurch, the Knox County Park District and the Knox County Probate-Juvenile Court.