For decades, the North Valley Occupational Center (NVOC) has offered adult students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) the opportunity to learn about aircraft maintenance providing them with hands-on training at Van Nuys Airport.
But for the first time this summer, the center opened its doors to high school students in the district to receive hands-on experience with the inner workings of airplanes – all at no cost.
The program has operated under LAUSD’s Division of Adult and Career Education and was opened up to high school students this year through the Community Schools Initiative – a grant that exposes high schoolers to the careers offered in adult education.
While the adult students take the program for about two years, it only lasts about five weeks for the 20 high school students who signed up, ending Friday, July 19. The students came from five different high schools: César E. Chávez Learning Academies, Polytechnic High, Arleta High, Kennedy High and Verdugo High.
Emilio Mendez Jr., NVOC assistant principal, explained they first connected with Polytechnic High, which had chosen to pursue aviation through the initiative. A new class was created – Introduction to Aviation Mechanics – and students from Polytechnic High and Arleta High were given a tour of the Van Nuys Airport in April to gauge their interest, which eventually led to the summer program.
“I think this is a resource that the community should know is available for them and the great job training that leads to high-paying jobs,” said Mendez. “Some of the [high school students] don’t know what they want to do after high school. … That was the main reason for the program, to make students aware that this is here.”
During the regular adult class, students work towards getting their A&P mechanic license – airframe, which allows them to work on the body of the aircraft and powerplant, referring to the engine. For the summer program, high school students were given two and a half weeks for each component. In half of the program they take engines apart and learn what each piece does, and in the other, they go over riveting and drilling sheet metal and doing mock repairs on aircraft.
Although the high school students won’t be getting a license, they will receive a certificate that will allow them to move to the front of the waitlist for the adult student program when they choose to sign up – which has more than 1,000 names on it. The summer program also counts as credit for an elective course.
Alex Diceglie is an instructor at NVOC who immigrated from Italy when he was 35 years old, taking the program while also learning English. He said the program used to charge $1,500 for adult students, but LAUSD has waived the fee following the COVID-19 pandemic, so right now the program is free to everyone.
Diceglie explained that the adult program follows the same school district calendar as LAUSD schools, so NVOC took advantage of the summer break to expose youth to aviation.
“I think [the program] is priceless,” said Diceglie. “You don’t need to be rich or know the English language to have an opportunity like this, and because of what you’re going to learn in this school, you’re going to be able to support your family.
“It’s not like the old school mindset where this is a job for men, no. We don’t care who you are or which language you use. We’re going to take you up to speed.”
Leia Gonzalez, an upcoming senior at Polytechnic High, learned about the summer program through posters at her school. At the time, she was interested in being a flight attendant and figured she would make good connections in the program. After almost five weeks, however, she has switched gears and set her sights on being a mechanical engineer.
“When we started doing activities, such as taking apart the engine and working with sheet metal, I honestly enjoyed it more than the thought of becoming a flight attendant,” Gonzalez said. “Working more with the airplane was more interesting.”
Aside from the inner mechanics of airplanes, Gonzalez also learned how to taxi an aircraft – maneuvering it while it’s still on the ground. She recalled feeling scared her first time, trying to remember all the do’s and don’ts but felt more at ease once she was behind the controls.
Her goal is to be a pilot using the money she plans to earn as an engineer, and the adult program will be her first step toward doing so.
“After high school, since it is a two-year program and it’s free, I’m going to take advantage of that,” Gonzalez said. “I’m going to join this program after high school.”
Yetzil Martinez, a recent graduate of Polytechnic High, also heard about the program through school posters. Her original plan was to be a dental hygienist, but she thought learning more about airplanes could be interesting. But she now has felt her perspective change.
“Once I joined the program, it really brought a lot of opportunities to me and information about the different career paths that they have in aviation that I didn’t know about,” Martinez said. “I’m honestly interested in pursuing something in aviation.”
Martinez is now interested in being a pilot after practicing how to taxi a plane, but for now plans on saving money to afford the cost of a license. She hopes to get a part-time job at an airport while also building some connections to others in the industry.
Anyone with an interest in being a mechanic, Martinez said, should take advantage of the summer program, regardless of gender.
“It’s not just for males. It can be for females, too,” Martinez said. “For me, it changed my perspective because I thought it was a male-only job … [but] girls can do this, too.”