DANVILLE — The Danville High School Cooperative Education Program serves as a partnership in education outside the school walls, according to program supervisor Laurie Allison.

“Cooperative education is a school and community partnership,” she said of the program she has supervised for 12 years. She also teaches accounting and computer classes.

Seventeen seniors are enrolled in the program, which averages 25 to 30 students a year. The youths work in nursing, at a veterinary hospital, a pharmacy, in criminal justice and other areas. Two students work in-house in the district. Most are paid, but six are serving internships this year.

They are placed in their career objectives after meeting guidelines for the program and being matched with an employer. The guidelines include a student being on schedule with credits for graduation, having good attendance, a grade-point average of 85 percent or higher, providing his or her own transportation and being evaluated by the employer and Allison.

The student is required to complete an application for the program and must have two faculty recommendations.

Time spent at the co-op is equivalent to class time — for example, a two-credit co-op equals a two-credit class.

The student and employer sign a training agreement. The student has a training plan with educational objectives such as enhancing his or her educational experience with real-world, career-related work experience, allowing the student to develop skills and knowledge about the career, letting the student explore the career choice, increasing a student’s maturity level by being exposed to the professional work environment and establishing credentials to enhance opportunities after graduation for employment or admission to college.

An employer interviews the student for the position and makes the final decision. “It’s their responsibility to sell themselves and to do the necessary paperwork,” Allison said of the students.

“At Geisinger last year, we had eight kids apply for nursing and only five were selected. It’s the real world. There’s competition,” she said.

Danville and Central Columbia initially were the only districts with co-op programs, but other schools have gotten on board with “more students in the selection process,” she said.

“This year, I’m working with a student who wants to go into culinary arts. I don’t have an employer on board. It’s part of my job to meet with the businesses to see if they are willing to join in the partnership in education. Once I find them, I connect the two together. If everything’s a go, I prepare a training agreement and identify the educational objectives,” she said.

Allison makes scheduled and unscheduled visits to the employment sites to see how students are doing. The students also receive a grade.

“I promote accountability and try to teach them to develop a good work ethic and to learn responsibility,” she said. As an example, if the student is sick and can’t report to work, he or she must call the employer and not rely on their parents to do it.

The partnership with Geisinger has been tremendous, she said, with one student becoming a certified nursing assistant. Students can complete a nursing assistant program, through Harrisburg Area Community College, in the summer. After a student works 260 hours, the school district reimburses the tuition cost from a special fund.

“We have had one student at the Weis Research Center each year,” she said. The student there hopes to work in genetics or biology.

“I’m already looking at placements for next year. We have 43 students applying for next year,” she said.

Geisinger recently hired two former co-op students in respiratory therapy. “They went to college, came back and were hired. We are keeping students in our community, which is another goal. There are many opportunities here,” Allison said.

There are two types of cooperative education. The one, known as capstone, places students in a specialized area such as agriculture, business, health and human services or industrial technology with the program capping off their formal in-school education with a related employment experience. Diversified is the second type with students participating in a program with a career objective that cannot be met by an existing in-school career prep curriculum area with them getting work experience in identified occupations at a school-approved work-based learning site.

Serving internships are Ben Titman in music education and Chris Cooper in technology. Other interns are Julie Jones at Lutz Day Care Center, Amy Sudol at Weis Research Center, Sara Rine at the Danville Police Department and Jamie Lynn at the Danville Ambulance Service.

Those paid include Shannon Kron for physical therapy at Grandview Nursing Home; Shelby Snyder, Holden Wallace and Angela Wilver for nursing at Geisinger; Christian Bohan for pharmacy at Geisinger; Tasha Ulrich for veterinary technician at Leighow Veterinary Hospital; Julia DeJesus for accounting at Service 1st Federal Credit Union; Sierra Pequignot for certified nursing assistant at Emmanuel Nursing Center; Emily Wertman and Ashley Stout for respiratory therapist at Geisinger; and Erin Heintzelman for accounting in Mahoning Township.