Arvin High School has launched a new hospitality Career Technical Education program, giving 60 students the opportunity to earn industry credentials and connect with local employers after graduation.
Principal Gabriel Ramirez-Leyva said the program is the school's 17th CTE offering.
"This is our 17th one. It's basically going to be a two-year program where we have our hospitality course, followed by our advanced hospitality course," Ramirez-Leyva said.
The program was designed to align with a certificate pathway at Bakersfield College, which launched its own hospitality program after Hard Rock opened in the area.
"Bakersfield College, right after Hard Rock open, started its own certificate pathway for hospitality. So we wanted to jump on board and connect with that and really give our kids the opportunity to go from Arvin High School, start the classes here, and then finish them off at Bakersfield College," Ramirez-Leyva said.
Instructor Erin Kawieck said the hospitality industry offers strong job prospects for graduates.
"Hospitality industry offers about, well, it's like fifth in ranking of jobs. So out of all the career clusters, hospitality is top five, and it hires about million people nationwide. So there's constantly jobs open and available and they're constantly growing," Kawieck said.
Fellow instructor Enedina Solano said the school spent several months developing the program, guided by student interest surveys.
"We were very blessed with our administration team that did surveys since last year that they've been taking from our students here locally and what did their interest in hospitalities," Solano said.
Solano said the program aims to build partnerships with hotels and restaurants across Kern County.
"We do have a lot of fun projects, hands on training that we're doing with our students," Solano said.
Students will also gain experience by helping plan events on campus.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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