Wednesday, April 20, 2005
LOCAL TEENAGERS LEARNING TO BUILD UP CAREERS, CHARACTER
By:
JASON KANDEL
STAFF WRITER
BURBANK - Inside the Burbank Town Center, 22 teenagers are learning the
economics of retail sales, and how to sell gift baskets, T-shirts and
stone jewelry. And they're learning how to sell themselves to
prospective employers as part of an after-school program known as We
Care for Youth. "Our belief is that all young people are challenged,"
said We Care for Youth co-founder Jose Quintanar. "Fast money, gangs,
drugs, teen pregnancy, broken homes - those are the big ones."
We
Care for Youth just expanded into Burbank, setting up a store called
Bliss Unlimited, where kids peddle baskets made from recyclables from
Vietnam, stone jewelry, and creams, flower essences and washes. The
money earned from the products goes back into the store.
The
program teaches high school kids in Burbank and Glendale leadership
skills and how to build character, and offers practical skills such as
creating a resume and interviewing for jobs. The kids who participate
get 10 high school credits, contacts to employers and a path away from
drugs, gangs and teen pregnancy.
Karolina Ter-Mirzoyan, 19, is working at the store overseeing a staff of
four. The Armenia native moved to the United States when she was 5. She
said the program gave her invaluable life lessons.
"It
seems to, like, change your life," said the Hoover High School graduate,
now at California State University, Northridge. "It teaches you so much
leadership. All kids need is a chance, an opportunity to spark that
light."
In
order to get the high school credits, teens must put in 180 hours of
work, which is equivalent to two classes or nearly 23 eight-hour
workdays. The teens, who come from Burbank, Burroughs and Glendale high
schools, work after school and on weekends over 18 weeks.
The
nonprofit We Care for Youth operates on $100,000 a year and recently was
awarded a one-year, $50,000 federal grant that will go mostly toward
youth programs at the Bliss Unlimited store, which had its grand opening
Wednesday night.
Quintanar said that the program helps teens get jobs after they
graduate, but there are no guarantees.
"It
guarantees them they will have the skills to get a job," he said. "But
the kids can undermine themselves."
He
pointed to an example of a teenager who, on his first day of work at a
J.C. Penney, was recognized by the head of security as a shoplifter he
had arrested years earlier. The teen was forced to resign.
"We
also teach kids about making good choices," Quintanar said. "And that
actions have consequences."
Herbert Petrosyan, 26, of Glendale is a graduate of the program. The
owner of a cellular telephone business, he said that the program gave
him discipline.
"I was
never a troubled kid," he said. "But the program has guided me in the
right way. I was on (the) right path. However, they made me stay on that
path. I never strayed." |