"Be diversified" are the magic words for job success, said Victor Esposito, who teaches Project Reach, a program of Jobs for Maine Graduates, at Vassalboro Middle School in Vassalboro.

His course helps middle schoolers hone their job attainment and employment skills and get ready to transition beyond high school into meaningful careers.

"They learn about banking, how to understand a pay check, how to live on their own and deal with a car, house, expenses and leisure," he said of the job-education course called "The Real Game."

Running a mock-up retail store and learning how to make change and deal with customers, is part of the course.

Above all, Esposito, 62, teaches his kids that a good work ethic goes far.

"I teach them to be present while working at their job, to be involved in it every day," he said.

He is optimistic for his students' career futures. Jobs are opening up in the community in food service, in health care for the elderly (such as certified nursing aides), in computer graphic arts and Web design, in auto repairs and building trades, in alternative energy efficiency for homes and in the phone-service industry, he said.

"Be good at lots of different things. Get to work on time. Be enthusiastic about the simplest things. Have lots of different, marketable skills," he said.

Jobs for Maine Graduates is based in Farmingdale. The course is established in about 50 school sites in Maine and serves 200 communities and more than 2,500 students, he said. For more information, call 582-0938 or go online to www.jmg.org

-- Lynn Ascrizzi