This Exit Leads to Dreams

Despite prodding from friends, Phi Tran decided not to wear a tie to his interview. He went for the no-collar gray shirt, charcoal dress-coat look. After all, Tran wanted to show his artistic self.

His attire might have been laid-back, but Tran admitted it was an effort to hide his nervousness. He appeared calm as he shook hands with each interviewer from the four-member panel he was about to face. And then, the questions began:

“What work are you most proud of? What computer programs have you used? How has your work prepared you for your future goals?”

Tran handled the questions with ease. His portfolio looked good. And the panel was impressed.

Would he get the job? Well, that’s not really what’s at stake.

Tie or no tie, nervous or calm, Tran and hundreds of other high school seniors put on their best duds and best attitudes for exit interviews at Century High School in Santa Ana, Westminster High and Ocean View High in Huntington Beach shortly before their graduations.

The interviews, which include presenting portfolios of the students’ last four years of school work and outside activities, are designed to help seniors evaluate themselves and their experiences at the schools. They’re also a required English assignment.

Interviewers include teachers, staff members and community members.

While exit interviews in the business world usually include a critique of employers, students shy away from identifying faults with their schools. Instead, the students focus on their accomplishments and things they might have done differently with the last four years of their lives.

Some wouldn’t change a thing. At Westminster High School, interviewer Jerry White, a district curriculum director, reflected on a student’s answer to the question of “If you could go back. . .”

“He was quite honest with me. He said ‘I wouldn’t change a thing. I made a number of mistakes, but I wouldn’t have learned if I didn’t make them,’ ” White said.

The exit interviews, which were started within the last few years, let students see how each high school class and experience leads them into college and work, White said. “They begin to see that, ‘Wow! This fits all together.’ ”

At Century High School, the Senior Exit Portfolio Interview program was awarded the Golden Bell award by the California School Boards Assn. in 1997. Students, some sporting business-like attire, wait for their 20-minute appointments while getting pointers from those who have gone before.

“My friends warned me that I should wear a tie,” said Tran at Century High. He has an interest in graphic arts. And he didn’t take the advice. After the interview, Tran was happy it was over. But when it comes time to interview in the real world, he said, “I’ll be more confident and try not to be shy.”

Besides some questions that may seem hard to answer, students get encouragement from interviewers, such as Westminster High English teacher Vickie Brun.

As Hoang Bui, wearing a crisp white shirt and tie, sat with hands clasped on the desk across from her, Brun praised Bui’s professional demeanor.

“You seem very calm. You look me right in the eyes,” she said. “I don’t see that you need anything in the way of improvement.”