October is Vocational Service Month for Rotary worldwide. Vocational Service is one of four avenues of service in which Rotarians serve communities locally, nationally and internationally.

This month, the Buckhannon Rotary Club has initiated a wide-ranging program whereby members will use their vocational expertise to serve the Buckhannon-Upshur community. The program will include literacy reading, essay and speech contests for high school and middle school students respectively, and "roll up your sleeve projects" aimed at cleaning up blighted areas in the community.

The club's cornerstone Vocational Service initiative is called Project SCORE (Student Career Opportunities Rotarians Encourage). SCORE is a program that is intended to help junior and senior high school students identify the career they would like to pursue.

For juniors, Rotarians will visit the high school to present vocation overviews to help them begin to narrow their career interests. For seniors, Rotarians will sponsor half-day field trips to businesses, organizations and institutions in which they have a keen interest for a possible career. Local Rotary Club members believe that SCORE will promote career interests in a wide variety of professions and occupations by allowing students to see first hand what professionals do in their place of employment and to see how businesses and organizations operate.

Project SCORE officially kicks off Wednesday when 18 students will visit Kelley Motors. Ten students will go through an auto and diesel mechanics orientation track, and eight will receive a review of business operations.

At the same time, 28 students will go to the Upshur County Courthouse for a law enforcement career orientation. All 28 students will spend 90 minutes with Upshur County Sheriff Virgil Miller for an overview of law enforcement operations and activities. Then 15 of the 28 will meet with Magistrate Mike Coffman for a law enforcement review from his perspective, and 11 students who have an interest in becoming a lawyer will meet with Prosecuting Attorney Jake Reger.

The following week, 58 students will visit St. Joseph's Hospital where students will receive orientation in a number of medical occupations. Also at St Joseph's, some students who have an interest in computers and others who have an interest in becoming an electrician will also be given an orientation in their areas of interest.

Over the next several months, the local Rotary Club will be conducting Project SCORE half-day trips to other business locations so that all interested seniors will have an opportunity to receive a career overview in their potential vocation of interest.

Rotary Club members are very appreciative of all the people and businesses that are helping to make Project SCORE a meaningful and worthwhile experience for local high school students.