Yucca Valley High School Career Pathways Foundation - (760) 365-3391 Ext 3106

Career Pathways offers students job shadowing, internships, scholarship and career exploration activities for students of Yucca Valley High School.

Approved by the YVHS Academic Council on October 3, 1996. Student internships will give the Career Pathways students the opportunity for supervised, practical training in the workplace. The hours of the internship may vary depending on the occupation being explored, the facilities of the worksite and the job description. Internships will only occur during the school year. lnternship students will be trained by qualified persons within the business and/or public agency. Internship students can receive elective credit for their internship if they enroll in Work Experience Education Class. The amount of credit earned depends on the amount of hours that the student spends on the job and the successful completion of all internship requirements.

The goals of the lnternship Program are to allow students the opportunity for:
* exploring career options and developing work readiness skills
* experiencing success in the workplace
* understanding the relationship between skills learned in the classroom and those needed for success in the workplace
* experiencing work related responsibilities under the direct supervision of a business professional

Students will be evaluated of the end of the internship by the work-site supervisor. The student will be assigned a grade by the lnternship Coordinator based on the supervisors evaluation, attendance and successful completion of all requirements of the Yucca Valley High School Career Pathways Foundation.

Students that intern are afforded the opportunity to apply for a scholarship based on their hours as follows:

100 hours: $500

150 hours: $750

200 hours: $1,000

Each scholarship is available for the period of 24 months.

Yucca Valley is a small desert community 125 miles east of Los Angeles, sitting on the slopes of the Little San Bernardino Mountains in California's Mojave Desert. The entire Hi-Desert area is referred to as the Morongo Basin. The Basin has a population of over 80,000 residents, with Yucca Valley area weighing in at over 30,000. On the east end of the Basin sits the 29 Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, which is the largest of its kind in the world. On the south end is the Joshua Tree National Park, which attracts over 1 million visitors each year and draws rock climbers from all over the globe. Twenty-five miles to the south is Palm Springs, destination for countless vacationers each year. The whole area is serviced by the Morongo Unified School District with a student population of about 10,000. Yucca Valley High School has a student population of about 1,400. The Yucca Valley Chamber of Commerce has a membership of over 400 businesses.
We have been making big changes in education despite our limited funds. Yucca Valley High School and the Yucca Valley Chamber of Commerce originally formed this business alliance twelve years ago and have developed what is known today as the "Career Pathways Program". During this span of time this community partnership has developed many opportunities for students to learn about careers through job shadowing & internships. The Pathway program at Yucca Valley High School is known to be a model program in San Bernardino County due to the strong partnerships we have formed with our business community.
Many of the students in our Career Pathways Program have had little experience with jobs of their choice, job shadowing and internships provide this opportunity for them. The students shadow a business in the community for three hours a day or even longer at times several times a school year. By the end of each year, approximately 150 Career Pathways students will participate in job shadow events.
In their junior and senior years, the students who wish to participate will choose an internship lasting 50, 100, 150 or 200 hours. These internships were developed through the collaborative efforts of the Yucca Valley High School Career Pathways Foundation, the Town of Yucca Valley, local business professionals and teachers. Students who successfully complete a non-paid internship will be eligible for the intern-scholarship. The Foundation raises the funds for student scholarships and The Town of Yucca Valley matches these funds up to the amount of $7,500.00 and it is these funds that are distributed in the form of the scholarships in the amounts of $250.00, $500.00, $750.00 and $1,000.00 respectively. All students who successfully complete an internship will receive a scholarship.
Another unique feature of this Program are mock interviews done by volunteers from the business community. This provides a opportunity for student to practice interviewing, develop poise and confidence, and take pride in their personal presentation. These interviews, which last 10 to 15 minutes each, are conducted on one day each trimester with approximately 5 business people for each class participating.
Teacher job shadowing and internships also play a vital role in our program. The purpose of these are to expose teachers to real life situations just as their students do. It will also allow the teachers to see how the subject they teach applies in the work world and to keep them updated as to the current technology that is in use in the workplace. Teachers shadow and intern throughout the community.
Teachers, students and community members meet at the high school for the monthly Yucca Valley High School Career Pathways Foundation Meeting. This meeting gives all of the participants a chance to input their ideas and concerns, and to talk about the successes and failures the program. Student representatives bring any new information back to their classroom for the benefit of the students.
The Pathway Program is overseen by a Foundation as the Foundation has established a non-profit 501-3C Foundation, identification no. 33-0785936. To date the Foundation has awarded over $100,000.00 in scholarships to deserving students.
Clearly, with the addition of our Career Pathways Program, our school and our community are making the best attempt to address the needs of all our students, including those who want to go directly into the work force, those who want to go to trade schools, and those who want to go to a college or university. Students in the Program learn how to present themselves, market themselves, but most important, they explore careers that interest them and experience curriculum in the classroom connected to those experiences. It is this community connection that make the Program so valuable.

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