Career Skills Program for High School Graduates Begins Session
An intensive technical skills program began a new training session Tuesday designed to launch students on career paths.
The students, ages 18 to 25, are participating in Fast Track L.A., a free government-funded program based in Huntington Park. It focuses on bringing students’ math, reading and communication skills to the level required by employers.
The eight-week instruction program emphasizes basic computer training, such as word processing and spreadsheets, but also includes written and oral communication.
Students clock in and out of class on computers and are “fired” for too many unexcused absences.
“It’s just like a job,” Nayda Vega, 19, a student from Maywood. “It’s intensive and you can’t be late.”
The program’s size is small--about 25 students--but its success rate is huge, officials said. Since its inception nearly two years ago, 85% of its 116 graduates have been placed in jobs or have gone on to college, program director Barry Stern said.
To enter the program, applicants must have an equivalent of a high school diploma. For information, call (213) 589-5141.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
