WBL James Burke

Student James Burke (12)  has been selected as the WBL student of the month. He shares his workstyle, how he balances school with work, how he is excelling in not only just work but in school, and his ideal thoughts overall. 
by Talia Banks

James has reached an accomplishment this semester (2024-2025 school year) for it to be his first year joining WBL. He has demonstrated that he is dedicated, ready, responsible, and is willing to push forward with whatever it takes for him to succeed in life. 

James gets into what the process took for him and the benefits that led him to where he is now. He says, “We can get out of school early, so you have time to kind of either relieve yourself before heading off to work. Or, I mean it kinda gives you a good opportunity to open up to a free range of work... When I first saw that I got selected I was surprised. It was cool and all. I wanted to join work based learning to help with my path to management in business.” 

He then subsequently starts getting into how he manages work and how he balances life with school. “I balance it with my routine for school, college, and work on top of that because of how tight my schedule is. I’d say keep up with your work and do not just leave early or call in.... I would say the benefits, pay, and the environment is nice.”

“It's been good, I've had no problems with it. Work based is simple and kind of just straightforward.” He tells us and says “Yes, I enjoy it. The teachers are all helpful with any need or things that are necessary and it just helps me out in general with school and work on top of it.”

Lastly, James reveals that his work with Walmart will positively influence his future education, “I just do the academics here and then work-based. The college that I was mentioning is something through Walmart that’s separate.”

James has a great thing going for him, and he has his work based learning process down to a science. He is working hard and leading toward success in his life.