{"id":283885,"date":"2026-04-24T15:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/283885\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T15:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:13:08","slug":"at-poly-high-a-growing-movement-asks-kids-to-consider-the-trades-not-just-college-after-graduation-long-beach-post-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/283885\/","title":{"rendered":"At Poly High, a growing movement asks kids to consider the trades \u2014 not just college \u2014 after graduation \u2022 Long Beach Post News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of students filled Long Beach Poly High School\u2019s gymnasium Thursday to hear labor organizers, a certified nursing assistant and a former firefighter lay out different paths after graduation \u2014 jobs that start with union membership and a paycheck, rather than a college degree.<\/p>\n

Labor panelists offered an alternative to rising college costs: the \u201cearn while you learn\u201d model of apprenticeship. An electrician might make $62 an hour after four or five years of paid training, one panelist said.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine being a homeowner by the time you\u2019re 23 or 24 while most of your colleagues are barely getting out of college with debt and trying to find their first job,\u201d said Irvin Barragan of the apprenticeship readiness fund, a nonprofit connecting people to skilled trades, from plumbing to welding.<\/p>\n

The panel and apprenticeship fair began when Annette Quintero, a social studies teacher at Poly, noticed many of her seniors panicking as the end of the year approached. Some knew the college route wasn\u2019t for them but hadn\u2019t been exposed to the trades.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Patsy Soto of Futuro Health speaks with high school students at a trades information fair at Poly High School in Long Beach on Thursday, April 23, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of kids can get lost at school,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to see options available to all students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quintero got to work. Last year\u2019s inaugural event was so popular that many Poly students were left with standing room only. This year, she moved the event to the school\u2019s big gym.<\/p>\n

Students listened as panelists traced their own paths into the workforce. Anginette Morgan was inspired by her high school classmates who donned scrubs and boarded a bus to work at a skilled nursing facility nearby. They made enough spending money to frequent a hamburger stand, and Morgan soon took the plunge to become a CNA \u2014 a stable, well-paying career that students can access after a four-month program, she said.<\/p>\n

Valerie Macias grew interested in labor organizing when her siblings began helping unionize Mother\u2019s Market & Kitchen in Signal Hill. She came to the event at Poly \u201cto learn more about what unions are and how they get started.\u201d Panelists delivered: explaining the power of unions to negotiate for workers and protect their rights. While a non-union security guard might make minimum wage, unions fight for pay increases and fair benefits, they explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe earlier we can expose them to this the better,\u201d said Florence Rivkin, of the Miguel Contreras Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to advance the rights of working Angelenos. At a recent visit to another school, Rivkin said students had only considered the options of college or military after graduation. Because that was all they knew of, \u201cit was so exciting\u201d to introduce them to the trades and other labor pathways, she said.<\/p>\n

Before attending events like this one, Rivkin said about 10% of students know what a union is. Afterwards, 90% of students understand the power of unions, according to polling data collected by the Miguel Contreras Foundation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>High school students gather around a building trades table during a trades information fair at Poly High School in Long Beach on Thursday, April 23, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

School board member Erik Miller, whose district includes Poly, explained to students that his father\u2019s decision to take a union job at a post office was \u201cthe biggest catalyst to who I am today.\u201d The stability unions provide \u201cis what helps the middle class continue to thrive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Miller asked students to stand if any family members work as teachers, custodians, police officers, firefighters, public servants or at phone companies. Students rose across the gym. \u201cLook around,\u201d he said, \u201cat the impact labor unions have\u201d had in our communities.<\/p>\n

Quintero hopes that one day, the district will offer a labor studies pathway that pairs coursework with apprenticeships. \u201cRight now it\u2019s a pipe dream,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of students filled Long Beach Poly High School\u2019s gymnasium Thursday to hear labor organizers, a certified nursing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-283885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-long-beach","9":"tag-long-beach-headlines","10":"tag-long-beach-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}