Painting curbs. Washing police cars. It was all in a day’s work for two local 17-year-olds this summer and they wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

Andrew Sveda of Albrightsville and Mason Zubritsky of Weatherly wrapped a month-and-a-half program Thursday that saw them working a variety of jobs in the Jim Thorpe area.

The duo were part of the MY Work Initiative, a summer employment program created by the Pa. Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, with the goal of providing high school students with disabilities the opportunity to work for their local municipality.

“I was able to meet new people and really increase my social skills,” Sveda said. “The borough workers have been super nice and supportive. I think I’ll be able to use this experience as I hope to go into the HVAC field and maybe even do some more part-time work with the borough at some point.”

Jim Thorpe Borough agreed to participate in the summer program through the OVR, which covers the $10.35/hour stipend the two boys received. While working in Jim Thorpe, Sveda and Zubritsky were supervised by Eric Vangorder, a rehabilitation specialist with Living Unlimited Inc.

“Andrew and Mason were really able to get involved as they helped paint curbs, wash police cars, clean out the food pantry portion of Memorial Hall, weed whack with the borough crew, volunteer at the animal shelter and help at the Dimmick library,” Vangorder said. “I wanted to show them a variety of tasks so they can get a better idea of things they like and what they don’t like. These guys already have an idea of what they want to do in the future, so a lot of what we did this summer was right down their alley.”

Borough President Greg Strubinger said the partnership was mutually beneficial.

“I think the timing was great,” Strubinger said. “We’re usually short staffed in the summer months with workers taking their vacations so Andrew and Mason filled a nice gap and got a lot of hands-on experience in the process.”

Living in a household with four pets including a dog, cat and two birds put Zubritsky right in his element volunteering at the animal shelter.

“That was definitely my favorite part of the summer,” he said. “We did a lot of cleaning. Cleaning windows and litter boxes, that kind of thing. I like taking care of pets.”

Zubritsky said he hopes to attend a trade school for plumbing but, like Sveda, could look to return to the borough at some point in the future.

“I feel a lot better socially now after doing this,” he said.

Borough staff held a picnic style lunch for Sveda and Zubritsky in Memorial Park on Thursday. By the end of the day, the two teens, who Vangorder said didn’t talk much to each other the first week, were cracking jokes and laughing with each other.

“It wasn’t until that second week when they started working in the food pantry in close quarters where the camaraderie was born,” Vangorder said. “As time went on that camaraderie grew more and more and more. It got to the point where they’ve exchanged phone numbers and talked about hanging out after the program. That’s really what this is all about.”