An in-depth look at in-house Work Based Learning at Calais

Our Work Based Learning (WBL) program offers students supervised activities designed to spark creativity, build workplace-readiness skills and encourage career exploration. The program incorporates work experience through jobs available on-campus at Calais and then, gradually, students are introduced to a variety of industries through internships at several local businesses in the surrounding area. 

During high school, students are first introduced to WBL during 11th grade through in-house work opportunities. During regular school hours, Calais students have the chance to work on the School Relations Committee, the Calais Cafe, the Calais School store and now the new Calais Entrepreneurial Lab. While participating in WBL on-campus, students gain confidence and hone broad transferable employment skills that can be applied during other WBL internships out in the community. Let’s take a closer look.

School Relations Committee: Students working on the School Relations Committee support Calais faculty members as well as the Administration in a variety of ways. During designated school hours, students are diligently responding to in-bound requests that range from light office work to individual supply requests and more. Ultimately, students are gaining exposure to project management, collaboration, meeting deadlines, customer communication, and appropriate conduct in a professional work environment.

The Calais Cafe: While working at the Calais Cafe, students are gaining hands-on experience in the restaurant industry. Before the cafe is open to customers, students are hard at work cleaning surfaces, checking inventory, prepping spreads of pastries and light breakfast foods and brewing coffee. Once doors open, students work in a variety of roles from cafe greeter and barista to server and cashier. Faculty and staff can place orders in person or by phone and can select from a wide range of prepared and semi-prepared items. The Calais Cafe students are learning about attention to detail, point of sale (POS), collaboration, customer service, serving food, multi-tasking and functional math.

The Calais School Store: The Calais School Store is run by students for students. Located in the heart of the school (auditorium), the school store sells school supplies, sports cards, calculators, games, Calais School clothing and many other items. Students are learning the basics of working in retail as they handle inventory, stocking shelves, assisting student shoppers, fielding customer inquiries and running the cash register. 

The Entrepreneurial Lab: The Calais School’s Entrepreneurial Lab breaks entrepreneurship down into bite-sized chunks- gradually introducing students to business ownership and operations, sales, marketing, production and self-employment. Students have been busy learning their way around several pieces of equipment, including a t-shirt printing press and Cricut® as well as graphic design programs breaks. To-date, students have used these tools to design custom t-shirts, signs and decals. 

These in-house opportunities provide an introduction to Work Based Learning under the guidance of Calais staff. When ready, students can expand their work experience off campus through local business internships, where they are also supported by Calais job coaches. Starting in 11th grade, students intern once a week at No Fuss Lunch, a school lunch provider located in Hawthorne, NJ. As Calais students advance on to 12th grade and 12 plus, internship exposure gradually increases to multiple days a week within a variety of industries, including health & fitness, childcare, coding/computer programming, home design, retail and more.

Learn more on how The Calais School is preparing students for success after high school.