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May 11, 2017

On Wednesday, May 10, CONNECT2Careers (C2C) celebrated the end of the School Break Externship Program for the 2016–2017 program year. The young adults who participated were invited to attend a ceremony at the Downtown Public Library with their families and invited guests. The ceremony highlighted the dedication and hard work of the externs, who each completed two short work assignments during their winter and spring breaks from school.

The program for the celebration included an address from Luis Escobar, one of the more outspoken externs in the cohort. Luis shared some of the valuable lessons he learned through his externship experiences and thanked C2C for the “once in a lifetime opportunity.”

The externs also heard from Karmin Noar, Director of C2C, and Dwayne Crenshaw, CEO of RISE San Diego and host of several externs in both the winter and spring. Both spoke about their very first work experiences and urged the externs to continue growing and developing their career paths and continue taking advantage of opportunities like the externship program.

Perhaps the most interesting insight that was shared at the celebration was that of one of the parents in attendance. Nicolas Arciniega shared his perspective on his daughter Pamela’s participation in the program at length with the C2C team.

Arciniega shared that Pamela can be shy at times and that he immediately noticed a difference when she began her winter break externship with the San Diego Regional Airport Authority. She was able to meet and interact with executives, attend meetings and shadow several different employees, all of which increased her self-confidence in the world of work.

He further noted the merits of the program when describing Pamela’s Spring Break experience with IDW Publishing. He said that, prior to Pamela’s externship, he hadn’t known the comic book industry even existed. He also mentioned that as a child, Pamela loved libraries and was constantly reading, so being able to see this interest closely tied to a practical career path was an eye-opener for both of them.

By creating these learning experiences for young adults as well as their family members, Arciniega noticed that the externship program brought his family closer together. “You’re not just teaching Pamela about work,” he said. “You are giving us something to talk about together, which gives us a chance to relate and unite the family.”

Arciniega stressed several times how proud he is of Pamela, noting how responsible she has been throughout the program. He mentioned that Pamela herself made a choice to pass up a family vacation to complete the externship program. She stayed by herself in San Diego for the first time so that she could report to IDW Publishing during her Spring Break.

C2C is thrilled to partner with the County of San Diego in providing these experiences for San Diego’s young people, and to see and hear how the externs have grown from their externships. The team would like to thank the 2016-2017 cohort of externs for their participation and dedication to this program, as well as the employers who provided support by hosting externship participants.

For more information on hiring a C2C participant, contact c2csd@workforce.org

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