The Belmont Parks & Recreation Department, in collaboration with the County of San Mateo Jobs for Youth (JFY), will host the Teen Life Launch workshop series starting Feb. 1 at Twin Pines Lodge to equip high school students with skills not typically covered in the classroom.
The workshops aim to empower participants to grow in their life skills, including those they have never encountered. The focus will be to help them develop a strong resume and interview skills, which they can utilize for future job applications or college interviews.
“Teen Life Launch teaches you things that you wouldn’t normally learn in a classroom setting. Our goal is to make sure that the participants learn different life skills and that they can utilize them in the future,” said Jerry Nguyen, the Belmont Parks and Recreation Department Recreation Specialist.
Carlos Zapata, the Community Program Specialist at JFY, will lead each workshop, which is structured to encourage participation with hands-on activities.
“I encourage conversation and folks to participate in the learning process. The workshop starts from a more general discussion with everybody and transitions to me walking around for the last 30 minutes or so, supporting everybody one-on-one by giving advice and helping with different sections of their resumes,” Zapata said.
Dhatri Vennela, a Carlmont sophomore, appreciates the accessibility of these workshops, remarking that schools don’t often cover such essential life skills.
“The workshops offer a unique opportunity for students to learn crucial career skills without paying for private counselors,” Vennela said.
The impact of the Teen Life Launch workshops is multi-faceted. The workshops help build career readiness, empower participants to make informed decisions about their future career paths, and equip them with the necessary tools for success.
Students look forward to learning new skills through these workshops; some students even have specific ideas about how they should be orchestrated.
“They should make sure to work with each participant to increase effectiveness. For example, during the resume-building workshop, they can recommend jobs tailored to each student’s resume and teach them how to personalize it to improve it. During the interview workshop, one-on-one practice interviews would be really helpful,” Vennela said.
The promotion and outreach efforts for the Teen Life Launch workshops have included reaching out to nearby schools through email and posting information on bulletin boards to encourage participation. Additionally, community organizations such as the Youth Advisory Committee and Belmont’s Volunteers, Outreach, Involvement, Community Events, and Services (VOICES) team promote the workshops on social media.
Overall, Nguyen and Zapata are hopeful for a successful turnout to the sessions, and they eagerly await the program’s future.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Zapata said. “I always bring a lot of energy and passion and try to make it fun, so I hope that the youth feel that.”
