Officials To Celebrate Opening of Instructional Center

A vocational instructional service has opened on the campus of Sunflower Alternative Schools, providing high school students with a pathway to post secondary education and a vocational degree.

The East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupation Program and Technical Center designed a 13th-year program for the Charter Oak Unified School District. The goal is to have high school students begin taking career technical education classes while still in school, officials said.

Students would be able to continue their education on the same campus in a compressed timeframe to earn their vocational degree, said Ethel Fimbres, director of post secondary at the East San Gabriel Valley ROP/TC.

Officials will celebrate the opening of the service center with a ribbon cutting ceremony May 6.

The new instructional service center will cater to high school graduates seeking a career in child development.

"Many of the graduates regularly returned to visit the school and reported that they were waiting to get into classes the community colleges or looking for work," Fimbres said. "There is a demand for employment in Child Development."

This program had been in the planning stages since August of last year. The staff at Sunflower began looking for ways to supplement their students' intentions for furthering their involvement in child development, Fimbres said.

Registration fees for the Associate of Applied Science degree is $25. Eligible students can also apply to any one of the various financial aid programs approved for the program, Fimbres said.

The program is dually accredited by the Western Association of School and Colleges and the Council on Occupational Education.

For more information, call the Del Norte Main Office at (626) 472-5101.