VENTURA : Professionals Sought for Career Program

Ventura recreation officials are seeking firefighters, police officers and professionals in a variety of other fields for a new program aimed at helping young people develop career goals.

Each volunteer for the youth mentoring program, which will begin in February, will be assigned to a local teen-ager who has shown interest in the adult’s line of work, said Roberta Payan, the Westpark Recreation Center director who is organizing the program.

Because organizers want to reach youths who have difficulty forming career goals, they are opening the 10-week program only to students who attend continuation schools or alternative education programs.

The program will accept about 40 Ventura students, all between 13 and 16 years old, who attend either Pacific or El Camino high schools in Ventura or the Community Alliance Program or Gateway Continuation School in Camarillo.

Young people in such programs have left or have been forced to leave traditional schools, often because of discipline problems or academic difficulties. And like many other youths, such students may have unrealistic career goals, Payan said.

“They all want to be either professional athletes or neurosurgeons,” she said.

They are also apparently interested in jobs they see on television or come into contact with in their lives.

Among the nearly 100 students who have applied for admission into the mentoring program, the most popular career choice is firefighting. Police work ranked second. And many youths also said they are interested in becoming probation officers.

Others said they want to work as graphic artists, computer technicians, photographers, registered nurses, fashion designers, carpet installers and in a variety of other fields.

To become a mentor or for more information, call Payan at 648-1895 or Westpark recreation leader Lydia Lovio at 658-4760.