Program Trains Teens For IT Careers
July 3, 2010
One-hundred Twin Cities students are spending their summer learning everything they can about computers and business. It may not sound ideal to most teenagers, but the students are learning lessons that go well beyond the technical world.
The program is called "Genesys Works." Selected students will go through eight weeks of training and end up as paid interns this fall in the IT departments of some of Minnesota's largest companies, like 3M and Best Buy.
The students head to a downtown office building in Minneapolis each day dressed as professionals. It doesn't sound or look anything like a class for students heading into their senior year.
Na Lee Thao wanted to give it a shot.
"It doesn't hurt to try something new. So I applied," she said.
Thao was married at 15 years old. While she admits she doesn't know much about computers, she thinks Genesys Works will get her started on being a math teacher.
"I want to give my son a chance to have a normal childhood, better than mine," she said.
Mahad Yusef said if he wasn't in the class, he'd be wasting his summer vacation playing video games.
"It was an opportunity I didn't want to throw away. It was an opportunity to learn team skills and networking," he said.
Jeff Tollefson is the Executive Director of Genesys Works.
"What we're really doing is trying to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds get on the path towards college and professional careers," said Tollefson.
The program's only been a part of the Twin Cities for two years. Already, 95 percent of the students who've gone through it have gone onto college.
"We want these 17-year-olds to be able to go into the workplace on day one and communicate with their adult coworkers as equals," said Tollefson.
Genesys Works works with six Twin Cities high schools to select students for the program. Students usually work four hours a day at the companies, five days a week.
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