San Diego City Schools logo
Clear Spacer
March 2007
Training Tomorrow’s Innovators Today
School-to-Career Boosts Student Achievement
Students serve hors d’oeuvres Students from the district's culinary arts program were a big hit; serving hors d’oeuvres and chatting with parents and local business leaders.
As California and the nation take a closer look at the importance of vocational education, the district’s innovative School-To-Career program continues to graduate students well-prepared for college and careers.

The program’s success was evident at the Direct Connect event that brought together more than 200 local business and community leaders with students from every high school’s School-to-Career program. More than 15 different technical areas, including traditional courses like automotive sciences, and newer areas such as media, nursing and medical services, and scientific research, were represented at the March 1st event.

“We have a critical mass of these career-themed programs,” said Brenè Patrick, School-to-Career coordinator. “We have lots of employers that participate now, but we have so many new programs that we have to continually recruit new employers.”

One new program, San Diego High School’s SciTech Biodiesel and Alternative Energy Project, is a cutting-edge alternative fuel project. Through project-based learning, students are finding out how to manufacture and use a form of diesel fuel that is created partly from leftover cooking oil.

Future nurses, doctors and medical technicians from Crawford High’s School of Community Health and Medical Practices (CHAMPS) were also on hand. One student said she entered the program thinking that she’d become a nurse.

“I’m going to college,” said senior Anail Mendoza. “I want to become a pediatric nurse. But right now they’re making me think about becoming a doctor. Everybody says I should be a doctor.”