Learning the Mechanics of Big Business : Education: The Los Angeles Academy of Finance offers some high-schoolers a unique combination of class work and hands-on experience.

For 17-year-old Andrea Chung, landing her first job downtown at Kidder, Peabody & Co. was a thrill, something more often achieved by MBA students than high school students.

It was also alarming.

Once, while recording market transactions at the brokerage last summer--a job that paid her $7 an hour--the senior at Los Angeles High School said a broker’s illegible handwriting caused her to mistakenly punch in 1 million shares, instead of 100,000.

“I thought I was going to get fired,” she said, “but my assistant supervisor said don’t worry about it.” The number was corrected.

Chung is one of 90 teen-agers from Los Angeles and Downtown Business Magnet high schools who have received a head start in Los Angeles’ booming financial community by participating in the Los Angeles Academy of Finance.

The academy was founded in 1988 by American Express Co. and the Los Angeles Educational Partnership. It is affiliated with the National Academy of Finance in New York City.

Although, the two-year elective program wasn’t designed for minorities, 66% of the students in the Los Angeles academy are African-American and Latino and 28% are Asian.

Consultants say the demographics just reflect Los Angeles’s diverse ethnic population. They hope the program will expand beyond the two schools, which were chosen because of their proximity to the downtown business community.

Locally, 20 businesses, including Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch, offer minimum six-week, entry-level summer internships. Salaries range from minimum wage to $8 per hour, John O’Malley, a consultant, said.

The students’ duties vary from researching and filing to handling stocks and bonds.

“I think a lot of them (supervisors) didn’t know we were in high school until we told them,” a proud Chung said.

To qualify for the program, interested students must have at least a C average and be willing to learn, said Golding. They don’t have to be interested in business.

Zuri Hudson, an eleventh-grader at Downtown Business Magnet, said the program’s broad business scope will always give her “something to lean on,” even if she doesn’t become an accountant in the fashion industry.

Meanwhile, students are also taught interviewing skills and corporate attire, because most have never worked before. If they did, they held jobs at fast-food restaurants or supermarkets, O’Malley said.

Thomas Akin, managing director of Merrill Lynch on South Hope Street, said he was pleased with his intern’s performance last summer. “We treated her like we would an MBA.”

Students supplement their regular high school courses by taking two of the academy’s designated electives in banking and credit or securities operations, for example. Seniors attend a once-a-week, tuition-free business course at the University of Southern California.

Program organizers say it is a good, challenging and unique program that helps students become business professionals by combining college-level courses and on-the-job training.

The students, who were often called “nerds” by fellow high-schoolers, have even amazed themselves. “It was hard,” said Terrence Banks, a Los Angeles High senior who interned at Wells Fargo last summer. “I was close to quitting . . . but something told me not to quit.”

The National Academy Foundation--formerly the American Express Foundation--is providing $75,000 for the intense program.