Description
This position directly supported students in the Workplace Essential Skills and Training (WEST) program with their on-campus work placements. The WEST Student Assistant mentored students and helped them achieve their employment goals.
Position Overview
The WEST Program Student Assistant will perform their duties under the supervision and guidance of the WEST Program Worksite Trainers. They will gain valuable team member experience while mentoring students to achieve their employable skills.
The students may have a wider variety of disorders such as autism spectrum, emotional or behavioral, sensory, development and/or multiple challenges. The Student Assistant will develop a strong working knowledge of behavioral strategies and interventions available to best assist WEST students in learning a variety of tasks.
WEST students may have difficulties with reading, writing, spelling, grammar, mathematics, visual-spatial perception, sequential memory and auditory discrimination. They are working on communication, basic literacy, and functional skills for daily life and employment.
The Work-Op student will support the setup, operation, and closure of the WEST Farmers’ Market and WEST Café located on the Nanaimo campus and provide cash register and cash handling training as needed. They will also work with individual students, mentoring as necessary, focussing on developing students’ employable skills such as communication, grooming, attitude, teamwork, responsibility, and willingness, as well as mentoring students to become self-advocates for themselves at their work training sites. In addition to this, the student will perform other duties as assigned by the program’s website trainers.
Graduate Attributes Associated
Students in this position will gain skills in collaboration, capacity to engage in respectful relationships, disciplinary expertise, and oral and written communication.
Job Type
- This is a paid Work-Op position
- Number of positions: 1
Sign-up Directions
For more information, please contact Tanya Assaf, WEST Instructor, at Tanya.Assaf@viu.ca