By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen

Because an actual, paying job in one’s field of study adds an important dimension to book learning, a partnership between the Vallejo school district and many city businesses started a third year of a work experience program earlier this week.

Putting Our Youth to Work, Supporting Youth Through HIRE Education is an eight-week summer internship program that matches high school juniors and seniors with positions related in some way to their chosen academy studies, district spokeswoman Alana Shackleford said on Friday.

“Our endeavor is to provide the youth of Vallejo with firsthand work experience that will yield good training in work behavior and skills,” she said in a statement. Though the first students started working in their part-time or full-time local jobs Monday, more job options are always welcome and students can still sign up for a waiting list, Shackleford said. Interns work a maximum of 200 hours between June 22 and Aug. 14, she said. School starts the following week. Some 120 students are already enrolled in the program this year, she said.

via Vallejo high school students team with local employers for summer.