By Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer contributor

HAMILTON TWP. - Forty-two Warren and Butler county teenagers have gotten manufacturing jobs at AK Steel through a partnership between the steel giant and the career-technology schools in each county.

That and several similar partnerships between the Little Miami Schools and nearly 100 Greater Cincinnati businesses were highlighted and celebrated this week during a luncheon.

The district has been involved for five years in the national High Schools That Work model that emphasizes partnerships.

"There are 10 key practices in the model which call for high standards and engaging kids," said Ruth Mitchell, Little Miami's curriculum director. "Every year we expand one aspect."

In the case of AK Steel, the partnerships have resulted in a School to Work after-school program that high school seniors can enroll in through their career-technology center. The 10-week, 50-hour class meets after school and prepares students for the firm's pre-employment test, said Mike Lehman, a senior human resources representative for AK Steel.

Normally, AK wouldn't hire anyone that young, but those who pass the course - 100 percent attendance is mandatory to pass - are allowed to take the employment test and can be hired, Lehman said.

"The core class goes over mechanical reasoning and applied math," Lehman said. "It prepares them for the pre-employment test. We do not hire 18-year-olds" unless they go through the program.

Now in its fifth year, 175 students from both counties have enrolled, 145 have finished and 42 students were hired, Lehman said, earning an average of $52,000 to $55,000 annually.

Kim Howry, a senior at Wilmington College, said Little Miami's internship program solidified her decision to become a teacher.

She spent two hours a day, four days a week at Maineville Elementary in a second-grade classroom. She plans to student-teach next fall and graduate in December and hopes to have her own classroom a year from now.

"I learned a lot. It shows a student what a particular job they might like is like," Howry said. "The internship made me decide that I definitely wanted to be a teacher."

Mitchell urged business leaders to volunteer to help by providing tours, allowing teachers or students to shadow an employee, participate in a mock or senior exit interview, be a guest speaker, participate in career day or serve as a mentor in the Pre-Professional Internship Program.

The district has formed a literacy committee and asked business leaders to help send the message that literacy was important to every family in the county. Details would be forthcoming, she said.