The $475 bench that First State Bank & Trust is buying from Van Go Mobile Arts Inc. is expected to pay more dividends for the Lawrence firm than just providing a place for its customers to take a load off.

The bench is part of Van Go’s Summer Benchmark program in which Lawrence teens are hired by area businesses and organizations  like First State Bank  to decorate benches.

Business officials say the biggest benefit of the program, which began in 1999, isn’t the colorful benches, but the job skills the students learn in the process.

“We try to make everything the students do here as businesslike as we possibly can,” said Lynne Green, Van Go executive director. “We think it is really important that they start learning those skills now.”

The program treats each of the 19 students as employees, not participants in a summer program. Each works 20 hours a week during the eight-week program and is paid minimum wage.

“They understand that we’re going to treat it like a job from the get-go,” said Jim Lewis, the project’s director. “They have to fill out an application and go through an interview process. It’s a competitive process, just like with any other job, because we have about twice as many students apply than we have positions for.”

Lewis said the jobs generally are the first ones the students have had, which makes it an eye-opening experience for many of the teens.

“They begin to learn pretty quick that you have to show up on time, you have to call when you are going to be sick, that you have to respect your bosses,” Lewis said. “I think some of the most important job skills they learn are some of those real basic ones.”

Vickie Randel, First State Bank & Trust president, said the emphasis on the basics was exactly what the Lawrence labor market needed.

“When we’re trying to hire, I’m seeing more and more a very disturbing trend, and I think it is generational to some degree,” Randel said. “There are a lot of young people who don’t seem to see the value of being a reliable employee.

“A lot of them don’t understand how important these basic skills are to getting the job done and how important it is for them in keeping their jobs. This program seems to do that.”

But the program isn’t all about the basics. Each student also has to learn some fairly sophisticated business communication skills. Each one is paired with a client buying a bench. The student has to have a meeting with the client, learn the client’s needs, develop a design, present it to the client and make any necessary changes.

“The student who we are working with has to come in, at the age of 16, and meet with three professionals and make a detailed presentation,” said Amanda Wilson, marketing coordinator with Central National Bank, another business involved in the program.

“Then they have the responsibility of following through on what they say. I think they’re learning some lessons that many students aren’t going to experience until after they graduate high school or maybe college even.”

The students receive job evaluations and are eligible for bonuses and Employee of the Week awards.

Several students said they believed the program was helping them prepare for the working world, citing lessons they learned about being on time, communicating and respecting others.

But actions speak louder than words and a recent visit to their office, located at 715 N.J., showed some other valuable lessons are being learned too  like the lesson of flattery.

“And Jim is the best boss ever,” Julia Lee, a 16-year-old Lawrence High student made sure to say as her boss, Jim Lewis, walked by. “Maybe I’ll get a bonus from that.”

 Business editor Chad Lawhorn can be reached at 832-6362.