Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

Alabama Power has awarded $750 to Chilton County High School teacher Kayla Cantley for classroom resources.

Cantley teaches the career preparedness course for freshmen. The class helps students develop proper interview and resume writing skills.

“We do mock job interviews, and we try to make sure kids have everything that they need,” Cantley said. “A lot of these kids do not have the correct attire.”

Some of the funds will go toward providing professional items that the students often need, such as a belt or shoes.

Students are usually nervous heading into the interview.

“In the beginning, they are really nervous because it is not something that they have experienced before,” Cantley said.

However, the students often find the interview to be easier than they had anticipated.

“Some of them even say it’s fun,” Cantley said. “I’ll often have students in upper classes come back and tell me, ‘Ms. Cantley, that mock interview really helped me get my first job, that resume really helped me.’”

Many look for summer jobs after completing the class.

“Our interviewers always say our students do an amazing job,” Cantley said.

The interviewers are asked to make the mock interview as realistic as possible.

“They evaluate them on paper,” Cantley said. “We have a rubric, and they evaluate them on paper and that is where their grade comes from.”

She said the mock interviews are her favorite part of the class.

A portion of the grant will also be used for printer ink and resume paper.

If she had additional funds after doing these two things, Cantley plans to purchase headphones and smaller tables for her class.

Cantley has taught the CCHS career preparedness class since 2014.