DECATUR - Aaron Leeper is following in his father's footsteps.

Leeper, a senior at Argenta-Oreana High School, is working at Caterpillar Inc. in an entry-level engineering job through the Decatur Area Technical Academy's Cooperative Work Education program.

"I'm getting my feet wet," said Leeper, who plans to study either mining or mechanical engineering in college. His father is also employed at Caterpillar. "I'm getting established in the company and how the company works. Hopefully, after college, I'll go back to Caterpillar (full time)."

Students in the program at the tech academy go to school half a day and work half a day, usually getting 15 to 20 hours a week in at their jobs and getting paid, too. In the process, they not only learn job skills but make contacts and create job experience they wouldn't have otherwise.

"Caterpillar's student programs allow us to begin working with the best and brightest from a young age, cultivating their interest in specific fields and in Caterpillar," said Rachel Potts, spokeswoman for the company. "These programs help us build our pipeline of qualified candidates and ensure that students come to Caterpillar with the right qualifications, the right skills and the right mind-set."

Caterpillar employs 20 students, while others work for Archer Daniels Midland Co., the Decatur School District, Scovill Zoo, Jackson Ford, Smith Tire Co., WAND-TV and the city of Decatur, as well as other businesses. Some positions are short term, and others could become full-time jobs.

"ADM is a great place to start working as my first real job, and I have great supervisors," said Austin Hummert, a senior at MacArthur High School.

Hummert studied computer repair last year at the tech academy and this year is working in information technology for ADM, answering help desk calls from ADM locations around the world, printing reports, checking programming for errors and helping oversee the data network.

One of the classes students attend during their half day of school is a work skills class at the tech academy, taught by Tonya Byers.

"I have to work on work ethics, what I call 'soft skills,' " Byers said. "These skills make them employable, no matter where they go."

She emphasizes such things as the importance of being on time, doing what you're supposed to be doing instead of chatting on your cell phone, and good communication skills in the workplace.

"Those are things that teenagers are lacking," she said. "That's what I try to focus on most."

Students have been in work-study programs through the tech academy for years, said Tasha Ziemer, special projects coordinator at the school, but in the past two years the focus and organization has changed with the addition of ADM and Caterpillar.

"The supervisors are great for this class," Ziemer said. "Quarterly, their supervisors do an evaluation for them, and it's part of what their grade is based on. It keeps them accountable, and the whole idea is to get them professional experience."

vwells@herald-review.com|421-7982