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Career Track: Pajaro Valley Students See Benefits in Technical Education
Career Track
Pajaro Valley Students See Benefits in Technical Education
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Colby Galassi Watsonville High School
Colby is a third-year agriculture science student and FFA member. She is on track to be a program completor in the Sustainable Agriculture Pathway and is a well rounded student.
As a freshman Colby decided she was interested in learning more about agriculture so she signed up for Agriculture Biology and chose to continue in the pathway. In biology she learned about the importance of working together and completing all of the hands-on labs. In Ag Chemistry
Colby Galassi she focused on how to create and utilize sketchnotes to help understand notes later and is building upon these skills in her current Sustainable Agriculture class.
She is a top student and is able to show her growth in knowledge through her notebooks. She says the hands-on learning in her Agriculture Science classes has encouraged and inspired her to become an agriculture teacher herself.
She hopes to inspire other students to fall in love with agriculture and science through her own teaching one day.
Carlos Zamora-Campos Pajaro Valley High School
This is my first computer-related class; I decided to give it a try and I think that was the best decision.
Programming 1 has been, so far, my favorite class ever, and no matter how challenging the topic is, Ms. Blanchette always finds a way to make it look like the easiest thing in the world. We have special guests; something I really do appreciate
Carlos Zamora-Campos and thanks to them we discovered a whole world of possibilities that programming opens to us.
Before this class I wasn’t really sure if I really wanted to go to college, now I really want to go and I’m going to try engineering. I can say that this class has changed my life.
Fernando Rodriguez-Garcia Pajaro Valley High School
Ihave learned so much from this pathway, in IT Essentials I learned about computer technology, how computers work, how to build and take apart computers, as well as how to fix computers. I learned about networking, how computers link together to allow them to operate interactively. In IT Essentials
Fernando Rodriguez-Garcia I also learned about security, how unauthorized access to computers, networks, and other data can occur and how to prevent it from happening.
I have learned so much from Pro-
— Carlos Zamora-Campos
gramming 1; how to create programs using control structures, procedures, functions, parameters, variables, error recovery, and recursion. It taught me to feel proud of the work I do.
I learned to pay extremely close attention to the code I write to prevent issues. In Programming 1, I was intrigued to create something by writing code. I am fascinated by how interesting and enjoyable it is to learn programming.
In the future I plan to pursue a career as a data acientist.
Freddie Lopez Pajaro Valley High School
Itook coding in middle school and now Programming 1. I have learned that coding is very fun and time-consuming. Programming is like a puzzle where there’s a lot of trial and error. I think the puzzles are what has hooked me into liking coding and programming so much.
Freddie Lopez Something that intrigues me is when I learn something new and then see what my code has developed with what I learned. The pathway is fun and so is the satisfaction I feel when I finish a project. I plan to pursue a career related to this pathway like computer science or something with computers and technology.
I love programming and hope I can make a living off doing what I enjoy and am also good at. Careers around computers and technology usually pay well so that is another benefit.
Miguel Bolanos-Romero Pajaro Valley High School
Ihave learned a lot in IT essentials and Programming 1 and have enjoyed every second of it because it is fun and there is always a solution.
Thus far in the pathway I have learned how to use many different functions throughout the coding process. Also, I have learned how to take a computer apart and put it back together and what each part does to make a computer work.
What has intrigued me the most is the hands on computer work such as IT Essentials which was so fun especially writing code and seeing it executed felt so rewarding in the end. In the future, I would like to pursue this as my career in the future. I have other interests such as a trade school where I can go and learn more skills.
Both IT Essentials and Programming 1 have taught me so many other benefits such as teamwork, social skills and overall it has been such an amazing experience. n
“Hopes Closet” from page 14
Toys that arrive with wear and tear get tender loving care, like the Barbie and Ken dolls that look like new. Some volunteers sew or crochet clothes by hand to give dolls new outfits.
“Once the needs are met, we send things out front, but we have this flow to make sure kids with needs are receiving,” said Hendersen.
The shop has a couple of train tables on sale..
That’s the kind of donation put up for sale, Hendersen said, because families with a child in need usually don’t have room for a large toy — a sale could fund a new pair of shoes, always needed as children grow.
In fact, shoes are the reason Hendersen started Hopes Closet. A teacher friend told her that a student had stopped coming to school because that child didn’t have a pair of shoes.
Hendersen gave her a pair of shoes, the child went back to school, and Hendersen had her mission in life.
She started a tradition in October called “Socktober” to get more new socks for children in need as the weather turns cool.
Since Hopes Closet was incorporated as a nonprofit, more than 20,000 “bundles of joy” have gone to children in need.
However, the need is greater.
“We have a wait list,” said Hendersen. “We never get enough of certain sizes.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic shutting retail stores and then fears that the contagious virus lingered on surfaces, later found to be untrue, sales at JelliBeanz plummeted.
Hendersen closed for three months, and her college student employees made no money. Even the Payroll Protection Program forgivable loan wasn’t enough to recover.
The change took just three weeks from the closure of JelliBeanz to the opening of Hopes Closet shop.
With the shift to nonprofit operation, plans are to build up the volunteer crew so paid employees will no longer be needed. Kids are still outgrowing their clothes, books and toys — and families are donating their stuff, knowing it will do good elsewhere.
With the change well underway, Hendersen is leaving to work in the medical field. The board has posted her job as executive director.
“I’m very, very grateful,” she said. “The resource we worked so hard to create will continue.” n
To volunteer, email info@hopeclosetsc. com or call 831-462-6700.
Hopes Closet Shop is located at 2555 Soquel Drive, Santa Cruz, across from the flea market site.
Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Information: http:// www.hopesclosetsc.com/ •••
