Class acts: Y.E.S.: A taste of success
Some kids grow up knowing exactly what career they want as an adult. Perhaps inspired by a parent or other family member, these youngsters play at being a doctor or engineer, or maybe an artist or chef, imitating their role model’s actions with increasing sophistication. By high school, their future seems clear.
For others, however, their archetypes are less ideal or nonexistent. They may know few people with relatively stable employment and benefits, let alone college degrees. Frustration in school and the lure of the streets often put a premature end to their education.
In cities such as Monrovia and South El Monte, though, community partners have joined forces to entice at-risk students with a taste of success. Both of the programs, CSBA Golden Bell winners in 2009, offer paid summer jobs and creative work to teens on the edge.
Dismayed at the prospects for Monrovia teens with below-average grades, city leaders collaborated with the Monrovia Unified School District and the local YMCA and chamber of commerce to sponsor a summer jobs program. Working with the high school counselors to identify participants, the partners in the Monrovia Youth Employment Service hire the students for eight weeks in a variety of government jobs. Mentors teach the students about expected behavior in the workplace and how to resolve disputes, deal with difficult people, manage their finances and make future plans. Each is evaluated like a regular employee and provided with a letter of reference for their future job search.
Among students who have completed the program, their grades, behavior and attendance have improved, says Monrovia USD human resources analyst Danielle Tellez, who manages the Y.E.S. program. Five former student workers are still employed by the city.
Corina Moncada learned about the program from the career center at Monrovia High School and was accepted in the first group in the summer of 2007. “My dad said I had to go to school or get a job,” she quips.
But she says she’s glad she ended up at the city instead of a local burger joint. The jobs program exposed her to a career as a librarian, and she remains employed at the city library today while she goes to college.
The Y.E.S. program really impacted her life, Moncada says. “I had amazing mentors there and it’s a great atmosphere to work in. I grew relationships there and have kept them to this day.”
Moncada, who graduated in 2008, says the training and mentoring she received through the program definitely helped her mature faster and stay out of trouble. She recommends the program to students who may be struggling academically. “It makes them take responsibility. It is a job, a summer job, so they have to take responsibility for their actions,” she says.
The El Monte Union High School District sponsors a similar program to help students from less affluent backgrounds experience new career options and build life skills.
The Theater Arts and Design Academy at South El Monte High School exposes students to technical careers in the theater industry. Located near the entertainment capital of Los Angeles, the academy trains students in set design and construction, costume design, stage lighting and sound, makeup, and other behind-the-scenes occupations. Stagecraft courses are aligned with state standards and available to other schools through county Regional Occupational Programs. Students get actual work experience during the summer as paid interns and enroll in community college courses.
Rosalina Villarreal was failing every class when she transferred to South El Monte High School as a freshman. She wasn’t doing much better when, after some months, a friend encouraged Villarreal to join her in a summer ROP class for stage makeup.
“I really, really liked it,” she says. She got good enough at her craft to become TADA’s head makeup designer by her senior year. She now enjoys working on theater productions at Cal Poly Pomona, a California State University campus, where she’s studying to become a veterinarian.
Without TADA, Villarreal says, “I probably wasn’t going to graduate.” But she was moved by the encouragement of lead teacher Jennifer Nelson, along with the examples of former students who would come by to visit and share their experiences from college and work.
“To see accomplished people around you,” Villarreal says, “gives you something to base yourself on, a feeling of ‘I can actually do it.’ ”
—Kristi Garrett
- WHO: Monrovia Unified School District and El Monte Union High School District
- WHAT: Work experience programs
- WHEN: Since 2006 and 2007, respectively
- WHERE: Monrovia and South El Monte
- WHY: To re-engage students at risk
- HOW: Monrovia USD partners with the city, local YMCA and chamber of commerce to sponsor its Y.E.S. summer internship program. South El Monte High School’s Theatre Arts and Design Academy prepares students for technical theater careers.
- MORE: Y.E.S.: www.ci.monrovia.ca.us; TADA: http://semhs.schoolloop.com/TADA