HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Public high school students can open doors by learning new trades with the GCA Trades Academy Summer School program.
Offered in collaboration with the Guam Department of Education, the program provides high school students with enrichment and credit recovery opportunities.
GCA Trades Academy program administrator Elizabeth Aguero said academy officials are excited to make the program available to students in ninth through 12th grades.
“What we are trying to do is encourage students to realize that there are other opportunities out there besides college. A lot of kids don’t realize that actually working with their hands is something they like to do until they actually do it,” Aguero said.
“We have been doing these summer classes and Christmas break classes with GDOE since 2014, and we have had a huge success rate.”
Aguero said this year the program is expanding again by incorporating English and math classes to help students earn credits toward high school graduation.
GDOE teachers will staff the classes at the academy’s Tiyan location.
High school students will divide their day between math and English classes and the trades program.
The program holds classes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Aguero said that if high school students need to earn credits in other subject areas, they would need to attend the GDOE classes at their respective schools and then take the trades classes in the afternoon.
The trades summer school program can accept up to 30 students per session. Aguero said 18 spots are filled already for the first session.
The six-week program will begin June 7 and end July 16. Each session will last two weeks.
“Every two weeks, there will be 30 students coming through. This is for the ones taking trades classes all day,…then they’ll be done in two weeks,” Aguero said.
Students enrolled for credit recovery and half-day trades classes will need to take two sessions to complete the program.
The deadline to register is May 31 but Aguero said registration applications will be accepted beyond that date.
GCA Trades Academy Summer School registration applications are available at the public high schools. Completed forms are to be submitted to the student’s school counselor.
Inarajan Middle School eighth grader Joel Shaw smiles after troubleshooting a leaking sink he assembled during the 2019 GCA Construction Warriors training. A similar program for high school students is offered by the GCA Trades Academy during the summer and also will incorporate math and English classes for credit recovery.
The Guam Daily Post photo
