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School may be back in session for thousands of youth in our region, but many may have more than just memories of their summer jobs through Workforce Solutions Upper Rio Grande– they have permanent posts!  “This summer job was just like a God-send,” said Rodrigo Diaz-Martinez. The Santa Teresa, NM resident is working on becoming an ophthalmologist and was offered permanent employment at his summer program employer – Major Optical. “Thank you, thank you for everything,” said Diaz-Martinez as he picked up his paycheck wearing his scrubs last Friday.

Through the program, youth, 16-24, are provided the opportunity to work for minimum wage. Employers benefit from the help at the cost of only providing a job opportunity. El Paso Community College was one of the largest employers participating in the program. “This was an excellent opportunity for us to be mentors, offer training opportunities and workforce experience,” said EPCC President Dr. Richard Rhodes.  “Every person in this economy needs an edge and the edge that this program gives these young people is experience,” said Rhodes. “In my mind there is nothing better than work experience in line with academic knowledge to make an individual a more employable person anyone wants to hire.”

 Eighteen-year old Del Valle graduate Sandy Favela agrees with Dr. Rhodes. “I think it’s a very good program because it exposes students to opportunities they may not have been exposed to or be able to obtain good references for the future,” she said. Favela was one of 170 youth working at different EPCC campuses and one of five working in the office of Workforce/Economic Development & Continuing Education. The now UTEP business student wants to one day own her own business or work for a global marketing company and said the additional experience received completing clerical tasks and working with different computer programs will surely help. The clerical work also helped 22-year-old Chris Flores. “I learned to type faster, my computer skills were upgraded,” he said. The Americas graduate assisted with updating the department’s filing system by working on document retention and files for training program. “I love this job, too bad I have to give it up,” Flores added.  Dr. Rhodes said the help to his different departments and campuses came at a good time. “Enrollment is up 30% in the last two years and we can’t keep up without some additional help,” said Rhodes.

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