SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Some high school students in Syracuse have the opportunity to make up to $120,000 annually from jobs. Most of the jobs are trades or skills students can learn and practice while still being in high school.
The Syracuse City School District has programs connected with high schools to prepare students for careers. The programs are Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH), Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), and Career & Technical Education (CTE).
These programs teach students skills such as technology and other trades that can give them four years of experience and training to be ready for the job market. These programs could be of more interest to students especially with the current struggles college graduates face finding jobs post graduation.
Syracuse hosted a job fair Tuesday at the OnCenter, where recent college graduates Andi Hunt and Ryan Vollmero said it has been hard for them to secure a full-time job.
“People want experience,” Vollmero said. “People want two, three years of this or that.”
In Hunt’s case, she said that she would just get “ghosted” by employers. Both of their stories show the battles of what most recent college graduates face, the lack of experience.
The deficit of experience Hunt and Vollmero have in comparison to a high schooler who has been training and getting real-world experience affects their job hunt. This could pose the popular question about college now: is it worth it?