Countywide : Computers to Help Students Hunt Jobs
Students in 37 Orange County public high schools will be able to offer prospective employers access to their academic transcripts, job experience, references and other key information through a computer network donated by a local company.
Irvine-based AST Research has donated 200 computers to schools in the Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Los Alamitos and Santa Ana districts as part of a 4-year-old national program called Vital Link. Vital Link has pilot programs in New Jersey and Ft. Worth, Tex., in addition to Orange County.
“We all benefit from programs like Vital Link,” said Safi Qureshey, chief executive officer of AST Research and a member of the Vital Link Steering Committee. “Businesses get a better selection of employees and schools have more highly motivated students who see a direct relationship between what they learn in the classroom and what they’ll need to know to get a job.”
The donated computers will also help students learn to use various software common in the workplace, and to access programs for resumes and job applications.
Sponsors of Vital Link in Orange County include UC Irvine, the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, Disneyland, FHP Inc., Fluor Corp., Knott’s Berry Farm, Rockwell Corp. and Western Digital Corp.
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