Vocational Wraparound Initiative

FSW~Westchester Department of Community Mental Health ~ BOCES

Our partners included Family Services of Westchester, Westchester Department of Community Mental Health, and Southern Westchester BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services).  A digital cinematography module, using Professional Shadowing^® was customized to provide real world-like “career exploration” and “internship” experiences for students enrolled in the Vocational Wraparound Initiative launched at BOCES’s Rye Lake High School in North White Plains, New York. 

Students wrote and produced an anti-gang short film, starring themselves, to speak out against gang involvement and violence in their communities.  Other program components included career development workshops facilitated by the project’s Wraparound Coordinator, was incorporated to strengthen soft skills and further prepare students for actual work opportunities in their communities.   

Professional Shadowing^®, within the context of the Employment and Career Exploration Project, created a unique opportunity for Rye Lake High School and partner agencies to provide “hands-on” activities that enhanced students’:

   Workplace readiness,

   Technical and soft skills,

   Ability to work cooperatively as members of a team with common goals,

   Negotiate conflict, and

  Develop an authentic appreciation for “achieving the necessary skills” for realizing post-secondary, transitional success.

The student-produced short film was used as a tool to market the Employment and Career Exploration Program design to client-districts in Westchester County.