Student Newspaper: Cascades Insight
January/February 2007

Cascades Insight is published monthly by
Cascades Job Corps Center, Sedro-Woolley, Washington.
Managing Editor: Bob Cockburn
Typographer and Web Design: Kate Weisel

Cascades Insight is a monthly publication of Cascades Job Corps Center in Sedro-Woolley. All items for publication must be turned in to the Newspaper Mailbox in the Staff Lounge in the administration building by the 10th of every month. Letters to the Editor must be legible, double spaced, and signed by the writer with complete address and phone number. No letter will be published that is of a personal, libelous, or malicious nature. The writer's name may be deleted by request of writer and acceptance of the editor.

Please scroll down this page to read stories from this issue.

Center Director's Message

Today is Groundhog Day. The furry critter made his much-anticipated appearance and he did not see his shadow. If ancient folklore is accurate we will have an early spring. I think that would be nice; with the severe winter that we have experienced, I am ready for spring.

Mother Nature uses the winter to her advantage. Many of the high winds that we have experienced are effective at trimming and pruning away weak and dead limbs from the beautiful trees that we have on campus. This actually makes the trees stronger and healthier. The cold weather helps keep the insect populations that are harmful to trees, plants and food crops in check. The snow and ice, which can be fun to play in and a nightmare to drive on, act as an insulating blanket on some plants and bushes to keep them from freezing.

We all experience some trials and tribulations during our life time. Sometimes our trials make us stronger and healthier, even though they may be very painful while we are experiencing them. I want to encourage all of our students and staff to keep trying and look forward to the springtime and summers of their lives. We all have many joyous days and experiences to look forward to in our future.

Culinary Arts Students Adopt Marines

The Culinary Arts department has adopted a company of Marines serving in Iraq. On a monthly basis they send cookies, this latest batch of cookies was 20 dozen. Shown with ready-to-mail packages are Aaron Delaney, Amanda Keating, Tiffany Johnson, and Tahra Russell.

Business Technologies Opens Doors to Good Job Opportunities

For those students who want to pursue a career in the business field, Cascades Job Corps Center offers a great program teaching skills in that field--Business Technologies.

The average time it takes to complete and graduate is 12 to 15 months. Students become knowledgeable in working with computers and computer programs--such as numeric spreadsheets, word processing and graphics. You will also learn good verbal communication skills.

To graduate you must have or attain a high school diploma, learn how to work well on a team, and understand and display the proper dress code for business employability.

Work-based job training is required--local firms offer these mentoring experiences. Places like the Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce, the Education Development Association of Skagit County, and the Chicago Title Company are just a few of the many businesses that give our students hands-on training. Beginning salaries in the business field start at $10 to $15 per hour and increase quite rapidly with experience and competency.

As an added bonus, the skills you learn in the Business Technologies courses will help you throughout your life in pretty much any field you choose to work in.

Requirements are many, these are just a sample of requirements for the different sections of the Business Technology course.

Foundations Course

• Personal appearance appropriate to a business office environment
• Work as a member of a team
• Use information from manuals and computers
• Confidentiality and ethics in the workplace
• Business math skills
• Business English
• Telephone etiquette
• Keyboarding
• Career opportunities

Data Entry Clerk

• Keyboard at 40 words per minute (WPM) with 95% accuracy rate
• Numeric keypad at 175 keystrokes per minute (KSPM) with a 95% accuracy rate
• Spreadsheet software
• Database software

Office Assistant

• Office procedures
• Use of phone systems
• Receive, process, sort and prioritize incoming and outgoing mail
• Use postal services (USPS, UPS, FedEx) and mail letters and parcels
• Filing systems
• Records management
• Word-processing software
• Spreadsheet software
• Internet
• Financial record keeping
• Compute gross pay, payroll deductions, and net pay
• Prepare invoices and trade discounts

Volunteers Help State Parks Clean Up

Winter Storms Damaged Northwest Washington State Parks

Cascades student volunteers have been helping to clean up several area state parks including Birch Bay State Park and Camano Island State Park. Cascades Job Corps student volunteers completed more than 500 hours in January helping state parks clean up after the big wind and snow storms. The students also helped clean up Camp Kirby, a 47-acre camp on Samish Island along Padilla Bay owned and operated by Camp Fire USA--Samish Council. Camp Kirby has forest, tidelands, and saltwater beach.

These winter storms took down many trees, so roads and paths needed to be cleared and debris removed. A heart-felt thank you goes out to all volunteers from residents and visitors who frequent these national treasures. Thank you for your hard work for the common good!

Cascades students who helped cleanup Birch Bay State Park were Sarah Tubbs, Otiniel Kattil, Martin Fanam, Jeremy Glim, Becca Soland, Rougan Haugse, Amanda Keating, Destiny Reeda, Logan Rickman, Wendell Ayawa, A. Ericson, Samuel M., Carle Moreno Yanez, Casey Downey.