CANOGA PARK : Students to Spend ‘Career Day’ at Office

Scores of young faces will invade the workplaces of West Valley Tuesday as more than 60 businesses take part in an areawide “career day” for high schoolers.

The career day, organized by the Canoga Park, Reseda and Tarzana chambers of commerce and the Canoga Park-based Keep Youth Doing Something program, was first held last year with about 50 students from local high schools, and has been expanded to include about 80 students this year.

The students, some of whom are considered dropout risks, will spend a morning in an office or business that matches their interests, said Joy Nuell, spokeswoman for City Councilwoman Joy Picus’ office, which oversees the Canoga Park program. Students from Reseda, El Camino, Cleveland and Canoga Park high schools will participate.

Aurelio (Larry) Ortiz Quezada, 18, of Canoga Park High School was invited to visit the Los Angeles City Council chambers after telling organizers that he wants to pursue a career in politics.

“The politicians, they don’t know what’s going on,” Quezada said. “They don’t live in the neighborhood. . . . It (entering politics) is going to be a lot of work, but I was born and raised in Canoga Park and I want to change a lot of things.”

Jaak Treiman, a Canoga Park attorney who has volunteered to take three students to work with him, said his aim is only partly to encourage them to go into law: “It’s also to show them there’s someone out there who has an interest in them.”

Johanna Spira, Canoga Park High School career adviser, said these teen-agers don’t often get exposed to life in business or professional fields.

“It’s really idealistic, maybe simplistic,” she said. “We just hope they aspire to something beyond what they see now.”