Lessons in life

The teenage students were facing job interviews for the first time.

Some of them slouched in the chairs. Others maintained eye contact. One answered a cell phone call.

Lucky for them, they’ll get notes on what went right and what went wrong during their mock job interviews at Friday’s Job Olympics, hosted by Community High School District 218′s Reaching Education and Career Heights (REACH) program.

The REACH program accepts students from the district’s special education classes.

Designed to teach job skills, Friday’s program included nearly 200 students racing against the clock in different job stations,performing tasks such as vacuuming a strip of carpet, bagging groceries and folding T-shirts.

Clearly, the prospect of a future spent wiping down tables and sorting paper didn’t exactly jump start the ambitions of the high school students, some of whom passed time by sneaking text messages or sharing ear buds from portable music players.

But school officials say the program, now in its ninth year, lays the groundwork for the real world.

“It’s so simple, it’s good,” District 218 Supt. John Byrne said. “If you do the littlest things, someday you can do the next thing.”

Lenny Taylor, a 15-year-old sophomore at Shepard High School in Palos Heights, was fresh from packing orders and stuffing envelopes.

Waiting his turn for the next job task, he pondered what life afterhigh school might be.

He talked about enrolling in college and enlisting in the Marine Corps.

He never mentioned folding T-shirts.