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Aiming to provide its students with as many choices as possible after graduation, the Aromas-San Juan School District held its first Industry Partner Lunch and Launch on May 7 in an effort to build meaningful relationships with local businesses and organizations connected to Anzar High School’s work-based learning system.
The initiative aims to help students prepare for both the workforce and secondary education.
Following a brief presentation by the district, representatives from local employers discussed the skills they were looking for in employees. They also submitted a form identifying areas where they can partner with the district, from providing guest speakers to offering tours of their facilities.
District Superintendent Barbara Dill-Varga and Jivan Dhaliwal, the district’s curriculum and instruction director, organized the event, which featured 18 industry partners, including Driscoll’s, Willis Construction, Horseplay YOUTH, Granite Rock Construction, BenitoLink and a host of architectural firms, electricians and plumbers.
“We want students to learn about and possess professional skills aligned to what our workforce is demanding,” Dhaliwal said. “We want to be intentional about what we’re asking our partners to help support as our students learn more professional skills.”
The partnerships are an outgrowth of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Master Plan for Career Education, released in 2024. According to an outline sent by Dhaliwal to potential partners, the work-based learning system will offer students:
- Engagement with industry partners through guest speaking
- Firsthand exposure through industry tours
- Practical experience through job shadowing and mentoring
- Networking and building employability skills at careers and college events
- Future internship experiences
“We are exploring how industry partners can help us build awareness, explore careers, prepare students, and also train them,” Dhaliwal said. “We want to connect rigorous academics with career-based learning and real-world workplace experiences.”
There are already technical education classes available at Anzar, including mechatronics, being taught at Hartnell College, plus trade classes taught by David Founds, who began working with the school after holding wood shop classes during the 2023 summer break.
“David is providing two pathways,” Dhaliwal said. “One is in building and construction trades and the other is in manufacturing and product development. This year, we will be graduating our first career technical education students who have completed this program.”
The district also works with organizations such as the Weston Collective, which teaches photography at several class levels and has already proven successful.
“At the recent awards ceremony at the National Steinbeck Center,” Dhaliwal said, “we had a fourth grader win first place in the elementary division for digital photo, and we had an eighth grader in third place. That was super, super cool.”
Funding for the programs has been secured through a Career Technical Education Incentive Grant which supports workforce development for K-12 students. The district is also expecting Carl D. Perkins funding, which allocates $1.4 billion annually to schools nationwide.
“We hadn’t secured this funding in the past,” Dhaliwal said. “’But as we put this program in place, we want to make sure that we have sustainable funding to make it ongoing”
Dhaliwal is already working on technical education events for the next school year. Besides the annual career and college expos for 11th and 12th grade students, the school will be holding the “Anzar Shake,” when seventh and eighth grade students are given a chance to practice talking to industry partners, building their communication skills.
Businesses and industries interested in Anzar’s career education programs may contact Jivan Dhaliwal at jdhaliwal@asjusd.org.
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