SOUTH-CENTRAL : 106 Youths Graduate From Jobs Program

It is a classroom as inconspicuous as its students.

Housed in a gray building next to a gas station on Western Avenue, the Shell Youth Services Academy trains dozens of teen-agers from South-Central high schools for jobs.

“Look, when you aren’t working, you are sitting at home doing nothing,” said Dwight Conley, 18, a senior at Manual Arts High School. “I tried getting a job at five or six different places, but they always told me I wasn’t old enough. This is great.”

Conley is among 106 students who graduated from the six-month job-training program earlier this month. Now working at a service station as a cashier, Conley plans to keep working through the summer and hopes to continue working while attending school next year.

That is exactly what Shell Oil executives had in mind when they started the program in March, 1993. Calling it a hands-on response to the 1992 riots, the company plans to commit $4 million to the program over four years.

“We like to think we focus on the average student,” said Robert A. Russ, a spokesman for Shell Oil. “The kids can go either way, and if you push them they can be high achievers. But if you let them fall through the cracks, they can become gangbangers.”

A 2.2 grade-point average and a steady attendance record are the primary requirements to get into the program. In exchange, students receive job training and placement, as well as bus passes to and from their workplaces.

The students from Crenshaw, Dorsey, Fremont, Jefferson, Jordan, Locke, Manual Arts and Washington Preparatory high schools receive four hours of classroom instruction weekly on topics such as resume writing, job interviews, workplace ethics and current events at the academy at 8611 Western Ave.

Students are then placed in jobs at one of 60 businesses, including the Renaissance Hotel, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Founders Bank. Students can work up to 16 hours a week.

The program prompts many students to think about their long-term plans, including going to college.

“Kicking back and having a good time is not going to get me anywhere in life,” said Angela Griffin, a senior at Crenshaw High School who plans to attend Howard University next year. “If it weren’t for this place, I’d still be looking for a job. Before I got into the academy, I couldn’t even get an interview.”

Shell officials say the program is so successful--it boasts a 100% placement and retention rate--that they are considering expanding it to other cities.