OSCODA COUNTY —Three Mio High School students are gaining work experience and exploring career options in a statewide program called Community Ties to Entrepreneurship. This program is sponsored by Michigan State University.

According to Martha Larrison, the Mio high school counselor, this program is an effort to keep young people working locally and to connect business owners to the young people in the community.

“My role with this program is to make the students’ schedules work with internships,” Larrison said. “This is a great marketing tool for the kids to learn from and take with them on whatever career path they pursue. The kids who are involved in this program will be able to walk away from this with a wealth of experience.”

The three students in this program are Amber Sheffer, who was assigned to work for the U.S. Forestry Service, Jonathan Ball was given a position with the EMT/Paramedic service and Charlie Bouverette who is now the Community Ties organizer for Oscoda County.

Bouverette, got started in the program one year ago and said it has really helped her to connect with the community to give her some great experience.

“I was really involved with a lot of community and volunteer projects when I learned about this program through MSU,” said Bouverette. “This program started out for me about a year ago, as a two-month internship and this past May I was hired by MSU to be the community organizer for the county. I’m a senior this year at Mio, and this program is my way to be able to reach out and help people and give back to the community. We really hope to see more businesses and students become members, so we are able to offer future opportunities in Oscoda County.”

According to Larrison, this program is very refreshing to see, especially for Michigan.

“We are really focusing on keeping our students local,” Larrison said. “So many times we see so many of our students moving out of the state to find work. This is a great way to inspire the kids to stay in Michigan.”

According to Bouverette, the goal of this program is to elevate awareness of entrepreneurial careers and prevent people from leaving the area after they graduate. For more details about this program, and to get information about where to find local jobs, internships or just to meet with people in the community, go to www.communityties.us/Oscoda.