IMMOKALEE, Fla. — After thirty three years of helping young people, The Immokalee Foundation is now being recognized for its work preparing students for careers after high school.
The foundation's Career Pathways Program exposes students to job opportunities and sets them up for for success once they graduate.
Araceli Moreno coordinates the healthcare career pathway at the foundation.
All 196 students in the program are on the path of healthcare, or business and management, education and human services, or engineering and construction.
"Go out there. Chase your dreams. There's opportunities out there and exposing them[students] to the different careers, not just focusing on one," Moreno explained what she tells students.
Watch Immokalee Community Correspondent Ella Rhoades report below:
On the healthcare track, students learn about jobs like being an x-ray or surgical tech, not just learning about becoming nurses and doctors.
The program lasts four years starting freshman year of high school. Students do summer instruction at FGCU, field trips with local businesses including Hertz, and internships based on their pathway.
They participate in other unique educational opportunities in their program. Students in the business pathway did a 'Shark Tank' style competition with a panel of local leaders as judges.
The Immokalee Foundation started the program in 2019. It didn't exist when Moreno was a student in the foundation.
She said, "Not having the necessary resources in our community, that's why it's important to bring more opportunities to our students."
The endless opportunities provided by the foundation is part of the reason why CEO Noemi Perez said they received national recognition from Excelencia in Education, a policy making group that improves Latino student success.
Perez explained her gratitude and pride for the recognition, "Having people understand and see that Immokalee has so much talent, and our students are the next generation of leaders that are going to come up."
The foundation said 100% of their students graduate high school with an industry certification, and 87% of them work in the pathway they studied.
After the recognition, organizations across the country, reached out to Perez, asking how it works, so they can start their own version of this program.
