Student Lands Job with Rubberband Bracelet

WORTHING H.S. – Jared Merchant, a senior at Worthing Early College High School in Houston’s, Sunnyside was hired when the employer saw his bracelet.

Jared said, “I had on my bracelet during the interview and I was asked what was I certified in? ‘I told them Microsoft Word Expert and HTML5 (Web Technologies) Application Development Fundamentals’”.

The company has been servicing the Houston area oil and gas market for more than four decades.
Nina Jolivet-Gronski is the Career and Technology Education teacher at Worthing Early College High School. She says, “These are ‘Industry Recognized’ Certifications. Students learn hands-on technology application skills. I teach awesome kids! I wanted to motivate them, so I purchased rubber band wrist bracelets. One side reads ‘I’m Certified’ and the other side reads ‘Microsoft’. Since Jared shared his story now everyone wants to be certified.”

Jared is a wonder student whom I have had the pleasure of teaching for the past two years in Principles of IT, Web Technologies and Computer Programming.

He is also Vice President of Business Professionals of America and was placed in the BPA Regional Leadership Competition this past January in Intermediate Word Processing.
“Next year there will be three levels of bracelets to encourage students to pursue more than two certifications,” says Jolivet-Gronski.

Photo courtesy of Nina Jolivet-Gronski