SEA-TECH students shine

SEA-TECH students shine during summer internships
Merry Gottschall, Youth Employment Counselor for Blue Mountain Action Council, shared the following report on SEA-TECH students Jorge Garcia and Trenton Mangarero. They completed internships this summer through the YouthWorks program.

Jorge Garcia: In June, Jorge Garcia, 18, graduated from Touchet High School, and a week later started a paid YouthWorks Internship at Doyle Electric in Walla Walla as an electrician helper. A collaboration with SeaTech Skills Center and Blue Mountain Action Council, both in Walla Walla, lead to Jorge’s placement. Jorge attended SeaTech’s Sustainable Energy Program for a half day during his senior year. His special interest was in electrical work. He was excited to get some actual experience helping electricians with their various daily tasks. When Jorge’s YouthWorks internship ended, he was eager to gain more experience, and was considering an eventual apprenticeship at Doyle. BMAC enrolled him in the out of school youth WIOA program and granted him another paid work experience. Jorge said he is working with some “great guys who are like teachers” and that he appreciates the thorough, hands-on experience he wasn’t able get in a classroom setting. He’s even more interested now in becoming an electrician, and will be entering the apprenticeship program, through Doyle Electric, hopefully this autumn. “Overall, it’s been a great learning experience,” Jorge says.

Trenton Mangarero: In June,Trenton Mangarero, 18, was placed as a YouthWorks intern at Walla Walla Web Weavers, a website design business. As a SeaTech skills center student, he had studied Digital Technology for half day sessions during his senior year. Trenton says that his internship supervisor, business owner, Nanqi You, has been a true mentor to him. If he is unfamiliar with a new technical task, she will sit down with him and teach it to him one-on-one. Besides deepening his technical knowledge, Trenton has learned the importance of working with the company’s clients, by helping them to define their message, and designing highly accessible websites. “If it’s too difficult (to get to the information), it drives people away,” he explains. He has especially enjoyed helping Web Weaver’s local business clients that he is already familiar with in the community. The YouthWorks internship has been a unique learning opportunity that is even leading to a job for Trenton. Nanqi You values his talent and work ethic and has offered him a part-time job this fall while he attends Walla Walla Community College to continue his education.