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Getting a workout

By Shawn Linenberger - | Apr 30, 2003

Sara and Shelby Heskett took some time away from school Thursday, but they learned a lot.

As part of the National Take Your Child to Work Day, the teen-agers accompanied their father, Kent Heskett, to work after attending school until 11 a.m. Heskett is the city’s water and wastewater superintendent.

Sara, 14, is an eighth-grader at Tonganoxie Junior High, while Shelby, 11, is a fifth-grader at Tonganoxie Elementary School.

When the girls arrived on the job, they helped Kent clean the city pool.

“They look forward every year being the first ones in the pool while I’m filling it, so I thought I’d make them work a little bit,” Kent said.

In the afternoon, the girls helped trim trees and shrubs near the pool.

At city hall, another student, Danielle Bard, entered telephone numbers on water accounts and counted quarters from the city’s water dispenser. Later in the day, she helped assemble the city council agenda. Danielle, 13, is a seventh-grader at Lexington Trails Middle School in De Soto. Her mother, Kathy, is the assistant to the city administrator.

“I think it’s a good experience for the kids because they actually can see what is going on at work,” Kathy said.

“They have speculation and this is good for them. They know why we’re frustrated at night.”

Tonganoxie Junior High principal Steve Woolf said a few students went to work with a parent, but many students had the option of taking a field trip that day.

Woolf said the concept of taking children to work is great, but he would prefer it not take place during school.

“I’m in favor of it, I just wish they would move it to the summer,” Woolf said.