Internship Program Gives Glendora High Graduate Head Start on Job Market

In a time when the nation's unemployment rate for recent college graduates has spiked, finding a job straight out of college can be a daunting task.  For others, such as Nelson Rony, a first year student at the University of California at Santa Barbra, a chance meeting with a guest speaker in one of his classes has helped him beat the discouraging statistic.

Rony, a graduate of Glendora High School met Jared Ryan, an owner of a company called College Works painting, when Ryan was promoting his business in one of Rony’s classes.

“College Works have been offering this internship for over 20 years,” Rony said. “He came to our class and talked about his business.  He then passed out a sign out sheet.  He called me, gave me an interview, and now he is my mentor as he showed me all aspects of the business from the monetary side to the production side,” Rony said.

Of the more than 1,500 interested students, only 50-60 were chosen to participate in the internship, which will teach them the business in a hands-on environment as the student run a branch of the business over the summer.

The program was founded in 1993 and has hired more than 2,000 college graduates every year.

Rony explained that information of the internship will be circulated during the later part of the fall quarter. Recruitment will then take place during the winter quarter so that the actual internship can begin in the spring quarter.

“In the spring I will pass out flyers, promoting my business and doing all the marketing aspect of the business, including giving estimates and scheduling painting jobs, “ Rony said. “Then in the summer, it’ll become a full time job where I will hire and contract painters and began the actual painting of the houses, aside from organizing payroll and managing customer relationships.”

A proud citizen of Glendora, Rony chose to start his business in Glendora.

“I am starting up my business branch in this great city which has given me so much,” he said.

A recent study has shown that while the jobless recovery continues and the national unemployment rate stood at 9.0percent in January. The jobless figures for college graduates is significantly lower, at 4.2 percent.

“I am doing this basically for the real world experience as I learn the business,” Rony said. “Something that I can put on my resume and distinguish myself to the community.”

Rony says that it is a once in a lifetime experience and that those who are considering doing the internship to go through with it.

“Go for it and check it out,” he said. “It is a great learning experience, a learning too and a great resume builder.”