 Last month we surveyed our education and business readers. We learned some interesting things that we would like to share with you.
Educators said:
- Counselors do not have the latest career information and this is an obstacle for students creating their education and career plan.
- Many Students who express a career interest will abandon that interest as soon as they learn the math requirement for the major leading to the career.
- Students have the misconception that a four year degree will provide a guaranteed job with a high income.
- 100% of the educators said they would like a central location where they can access career information and make connections with the local business community.
Businesses said:
- It is imperative that your students are taught basic people skills.
- Industry is having a hard time finding skilled workers. Some industries are offering signing bonuses for trained workers.
- Top non-technical skills desired by employers include: customer service skills, strong work ethic, willingness to learn and emotional intelligence.
- Many of the businesses want new employees to have a clean driving record.
- Employers are checking MySpace before they hire someone.
If you didn't have a chance to complete the survey, please give us your opinion by clicking on the links below.
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Producing Career Exploration Events Just Got Easier
The Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Foundation has just made the production of Vital Link Career Exploration events easier and more cost effective. Through the generous donation of $11,000 for sound and video equipment, we were able to purchase equipment that we have had to rent in the past. The ongoing use of our own equipment will save thousands of dollars each year.
The Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Foundation donates the proceeds from the Strawberry Festival to non-profit organizations that support residents of Garden Grove. Our relationship with the Festival has provided Vital Link with valuable and necessary equipment for the operation of our organization.
We want to thank the Board of Directors of the Strawberry Festival Foundation for their continued support and participation in Connecting Garden Grove Students to Their Future.
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State Street Is Our Top Team Builder
Linda Wright from State Street is the recipient of the Team Builder Award presented by Vital Link at the March Board of Directors meeting. This honor is given to the person who has done the most to recruit volunteers and supporters for our organization. Linda is the State Street Ambassador for Vital Link and donates her time to recruit State Street volunteers to assist at our Career Exploration events. She has helped to recruit volunteers who have provided logistical, technical, and "whatever you need to get done, lets do it" type assistance.
Linda is our Top Team Builder of the year, and to tell the truth, we could not do it without her!
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Students See Behind
the Scenes in the
Operating Room
The fifth annual Medical Careers in Action Career Exploration event was a hit with over 300 students and educators attending. Medical Professionals from Saddleback Memorial Medical Center reenacted a laparoscopic surgery and shared their career path with the students. From the beginning of the presentation when the patient arrived in the emergency room, to watching the professionals perform a gallbladder removal, students were inspired to consider careers in the Health Care field.
Teachers said, "It was good to see the medical process from start to finish. This is a really neat way to see everyone who might touch a patient as they come through the hospital." "I really think that this was an eye-opener for most of the students. They were all very excited to see the surgery on the screen."
Students said, "Every person explained their profession and a little bit of their background. It was very fascinating seeing how their lives complemented their job and vice versa." "My favorite part of the presentation is the actual surgery and the explanation of it."
This popular event reaches capacity every year with a waiting list of equal size. This year we broke a record by not only having 400 on the waiting list but over 250 pre registered for the 2008-09 event. Vital Link is looking for additional locations to hold the event to accommodate more students who are interested in exploring careers in the Health Care field.
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Summer provides great opportunities to learn GIS and GPS
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer system increasingly used by millions of people across the globe to visualize and analyze myriad spatial data to determine crime patterns, to locate customers or determine a new business location, to analyze demographics to locate services or to see their success or failure, to view how and where people vote, to mapping patients, diseases, students, ridership and more. GIS is very effective and essential in most all disciplines. GIS is marketable!
Rio Hondo College has offered GIS for almost 10 years and provides various courses. Course offerings this summer include a hybrid Introduction to GIS (GIS120) course (meets on campus June 23 - 27th). Also offered is a Global Positioning System (GPS) (GIS 130) field data collection course with assignments on remote locations of Santa Cruz Island (July 8-12) and attendance at the ESRI International Conference in San Diego (August 5th). These courses are ideal for a high school or college student interested in this amazing field!
For more information, contact Professor Warren Roberts, gisteacher@gmail.com or on campus at (562) 692-0921 x3705. More information can be found online at www.riohondo.edu/gis
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 If you are interested in supporting Vital Link through an in-kind donation, the organization is currently looking for the following items:
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Vital Link, a non-profit organization, provides creative and professional programs that focus on leading edge job skills and job development curriculum. We reach over 25,000 students each year through the Career Exploration Programs, support services, and use of the Vital Link curriculum. Encouraging students to make the connection between their education and their future career path is foundational to Vital Link and will impact lives today and in the future.
Contact us: Vital Link
P.O. Box 12064
Costa Mesa, California 92627
(949) 646-2520 Phone
(949) 646-2523 Fax
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