STOCKTON – If there was one theme at the Outstanding Student Awards celebration for the San Joaquin County Office of Education Career Technical Education (CTE) programs it was what brought the award-winning students to class.
They came to work.
Teachers heaping praise on the award winners lauded their students’ drive in the classroom, and many of the students being praised were already primed to join the workforce, if they weren’t already there.
CalWorks CTE instructor Chris Faix was prepared to say a few words about one of his students at the recent ceremony at the Federal Building in downtown Stockton, even though the student wasn’t there to receive it.
The student was working a paying job, Faix said, stressing the importance of awards such as these.
“We get to recognize our students who excel,” he said. “It’s good to let them know: Your hard work pays off.”
James Vong, 20, knows that. He’s been learning carpentry, plumbing and other trades, and he was ready to learn more in his next year in the YouthBuild San Joaquin program. “I’m excited and honored to be getting an award,” he said.
His teacher Richard Mendez said the student is both dependable and a leader. “He’s that go-to guy,” Mendez said of James. “I know I can walk away, and when I come back, that job is going to be done exactly the way I told him how to do it.”
Award winners included a mix of high school and adult students.
Students won awards for their participation, attendance and proficiency for a wide-range of career-oriented programs, including culinary arts, medical assisting, small business management, film, cosmetology, warehousing and sports medicine.
Even if the high school students didn’t go into the same careers they studied in school, CTE prepares students for more than one line of work, said Chris Kleinert, Director of Career Technical Education. “I think that anything that is job-related in high school will help prepare students for the world of work. We all must go to work at some point.”
Claudia Maritza Lazara is an adult student at the Career Academy of Cosmetology. “I’ve always wanted to be in the beauty industry,” she said. She already had a job lined up.
And because of all that she has learned in the cosmetology program, she felt ready for it.
“I feel confident. I feel prepared.”
(Pictured, from left, YBSJ student James Vong and his teacher, Richard Mendez, who nominated James for an Outstanding Student Award.)