Millikan Teens Learning From Summer Jobs

The sandpaper, power drills and paintbrushes they wield look ordinary, but the 15 Millikan Middle School students sprucing up their campus this summer are actually toiling in the experimental.

As part of the Summer Youth Employment Program run by the Los Angeles Unified School District and the city of Los Angeles, Millikan and four other campuses in the district are testing a work-based learning program that teaches real-world skills to at-risk and low-income teen-agers.

In 200 hours this summer, the students at Millikan will pour concrete benches, build 85 classroom podiums, fix sprinkler systems and repair plaster cracks from the Northridge earthquake. For $5.47 an hour, they will paint classroom doors, repair leaky sinks and make wooden hall passes for the teachers.

“Without this I would be staying home, doing nothing,” said 16-year-old Avetiz Alepyan after sanding a wooden hall pass. “Now, I can stay out of trouble, stay off the streets and get paid.”

Unlike the majority of the district’s 125 summer offerings, the work-based learning program integrates job training with other subjects. For example, mixing concrete doubles as a mathematics lesson.

“We didn’t just want people to be cleaning the campus and leaving with no skills,” said Millikan Assistant Principal Norman Isaacs. “My hope is these kids will have an understanding of the reason they are in school.”

Behind the district’s push to beef up its summer work programs is a $300-million federal School-to-Work Transition Act passed this year, aimed at blending school work with work skills.

But funding for the current work-based programs comes out of the district’s regular summer youth programs that are already funded with $500,000 in city and federal funds. In addition, San Fernando Valley community organizations assisted Millikan administrators with the cost of busing and insurance.

James Konantz, the school district’s director of career development, said the need for such programs is greater than ever.

“The work force is changing,” he said. “Students need to understand the structure of the new system and see the relevancy of what they learn in school.”

Floyd Jones, who is teaching the Millikan program, agreed.

“Most of the things they learn in school are not always applicable to their jobs,” he said. “I hope they are going to learn some basic work ethics like showing up on time and having a good attitude.”

Sweeping the shop room floor after her second day on the job, 15-year-old Yunea Cruz said she wanted to sign up as soon as she heard about the program.

“I was going to baby-sit this summer,” Cruz said. “But I wanted to learn something else.”