More Than A Job For Harrison Oickle
Most youth take the first job they can find. It’s often a learning experience as much for finding out what they don’t want to do, as it is discovering what career path they actually want to follow.
For a select few however, including Chatham’s Harrison Oickle, they get lucky, and happen upon a job they love immediately. For Oickle, that came with landing a position with CK Recreation.
“My parents showed me some summer job postings with the municipality. While viewing the postings, I saw the CK Rec summer camp job posting and felt that I would be a good fit for that position,” Oickle recalls of finding the CK Recreation.
“I was interested in this position because I had previous experience working with kids at camps on a smaller scale and felt this would allow me to stay active and continue working with kids.”
CK Recreation has a number of up and comers working with them in a variety of roles. The teenagers who are lucky enough to secure a spot with CK Recreation are often able, as Oickle was, to build on their love for sports, activity, and recreation. And once they’re in, few of these youngsters are eager to leave their job at CK Recreation like many peers do from other positions.
“I’d like to stay working with CK Rec as I feel there are a lot of good job opportunities there as well as possible positions in my future. My short-term goals would be to get asked to return to the CK Rec summer camp job and eventually work my way up to be a Group Leader,” explained Oickle, who recently completed training to be an instructor for the CK Rec Babysitting Course, as well as for the upcoming Soccer Camps.
Oickle himself is a travel hockey and baseball player with the Kent Cobras and Chatham Diamonds U18 teams, and enjoys outdoor recreation including biking, rollerblading, and swimming.
His love for being active fit perfectly into his role as initially a call-in leader where he demonstrated games, took kids to local pools, cleaned, and completed registration with youth this summer, and later as a full time staff in Wallaceburg.
“My favourite part was being around the kids, having fun and being challenged to keep them engaged,” said Oickle of his job. “I also enjoyed being able to build bonds with my other co-workers.”
For Oickle, CK Recreation was the perfect fit, and he hopes other teens in Chatham-Kent will see the potential to work in a role like he found, not only for the personal benefits, but for the positive impact it has on youth in the area.
“It is a very enjoyable job,” said Oickle, who also recognized the importance of looking after and staying interactive and enthusiastic with the children he was responsible for.
“They look up to you.”
Luckily for families who put their children in CK Recreation’s programming, there are many up and coming leaders ready to be positive role models for Chatham-Kent’s next generation.